Why it matters: Rethinking litter & responsibility in Indian cities

Walk through the heart of any Indian city and you’ll encounter a reality we’ve normalised — streets littered with discarded paper cups, sachets of pan masala, plastic wrappers and cigarette butts. At first glance, it’s just waste. But look closer and it reveals a deeper pattern of unchecked consumption, weak accountability and a public infrastructure still struggling to keep pace with urban sprawl.

This isn’t a new problem but is becoming more urgent. A recent waste audit by IDEAL Foundation in Delhi used the Gobbler litter picker machine to collect and analyse litter from Karol Bagh and Tilak Nagar — two of the city’s busiest market zones. In just 30 days, the machine gathered over 64,000 items, amounting to nearly 32,000 litres of waste — or 133 full bins. On average, that’s five overflowing 240-litre bins every day.

Most of the waste was low-value, single-use packaging and over 48,000 items were unbranded, underscoring the challenge of holding producers accountable.

To support the audit, a four-member research team from the non-governmental organisation accompanied the Gobbler litter picker machine during daily rounds — monitoring collection and mapping litter hotspots.

Post-collection, waste was taken to a sorting facility where two trained sorters manually segregated items. This hands-on process helped identify material types, branding patterns, and recyclability, revealing critical insights into urban consumption and packaging responsibility.

This matters for many reasons, not least of which is the direct threat to urban health and hygiene. Uncollected waste clogs stormwater drains, triggers flash floods and leaches into water bodies, affecting both ecosystems and human well-being. Cigarette filters, often made of cellulose acetate, can take up to a decade to degrade while releasing toxins like nicotine and heavy metals. Plastic wrappers, whether tossed casually or swept aside by wind and rain, never truly disappear — they simply break down into microplastics, entering the food chain and quietly polluting our soil and water.

But litter is more than an environmental hazard — it is also a mirror. It reflects a gap in civic systems, a disconnect between producers and the end of their products’ life cycle, and a behavioural culture where the onus of cleanliness is disproportionately placed on municipal workers.

India’s current Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy is a promising tool — but only if implemented with transparency, rigour and inclusivity. Brands must be mandated to disclose the type and volume of packaging they use and take-back systems must go beyond token gestures. Without independent audits and enforcement, EPR risks becoming another well-meaning regulation that fails to shift outcomes on the ground.

On the government’s part, the infrastructure for managing visible litter needs both investment and innovation. Mechanised tools, such as the Gobbler litter picker machine, have shown potential: A single unit can collect over 15,000 kilogrammes of litter in a month, significantly reducing the immediate environmental burden in crowded markets.

But machines alone are not the solution. What’s needed is an ecosystem approach — one that combines technology with timely collection, smarter waste bin placement and urban planning that includes waste management as a core design principle.

And then, there’s us — the public. Cleaner cities inspire cleaner habits. Research and experience show that when people encounter clean, well-maintained public spaces, they are less likely to litter and more likely to take pride in shared environments. Public awareness campaigns, school education and community-led initiatives must be seen as core strategies, not peripheral add-ons.

Ultimately, the story of litter is also the story of our shared responsibility. It is easy to see it as a problem that belongs to someone else — a street sweeper, a municipality, a nameless manufacturer. But the path to change starts with recognising that clean streets are not just about appearances. They are about the kind of society we aspire to live in — one that values dignity, accountability, and care for the commons.

Bahuguna is an independent environmental consultant based in Dehradun. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.