Unsustainable Packaging Waste – Growing Pressure on Indian Landfills

A large part of packaging is hard to sort and recycle cost-effectively, so it mainly ends up as dry waste in landfills or is incinerated. The rapid growth of e-commerce and home delivery services has increased the use of secondary and tertiary packaging (such as bags, bubble wrap, and air pillows), adding to the mixed dry waste streams that many cities find difficult to separate at source. Plastic bans are enforced inconsistently, sometimes disadvantaging small retailers and informal economies that lack suitable alternatives. Waste collection in towns and cities is often inefficient. Most Indian cities recognize the importance of waste segregation, but dry and wet household waste is still collected and dumped together. Commercial waste, part of MSW, makes up a large portion of packaging material. The packaging used in markets and by wholesalers exceeds that used by retailers when selling products. As a result, packaging waste becomes an additional burden at every stage of the market chain, and all this ultimately adds to the total waste dumped in landfills. Mismanaged waste places significant health and economic strains on marginalized communities near landfills and incinerators, who are more likely to be affected. The growth of e-commerce leads to more non-recyclable packaging, further burdening urban waste systems that often lack proper segregation infrastructure. This overload also financially strains municipalities, as repeated hauling and activities like "landfill mining" and fire control divert funds from segregation, Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), and composting capacity.