Himachal Pradesh: Growing plastic garbage a threat to Indian Himalayas

Plastic waste damaging Himalayan ecosystem and biodiversity in north Indian hill state of Himachal Pradesh is becoming a threat to the people residing there. Environmentalists, farmers and locals are worried as the tourists visiting the hills are throwing garbage in the hills of Himalayan region. The local residents have demanded the authorities to take action and provide dumping arrangements to collect the plastic garbage.Agriculture experts and environmentalists believe that the plastic waste is not only hitting biodiversity but farming as well.“Age of degradation of plastic is more than 400 years, the plastic bottle takes more than 1000 year to degrade, it remains in the system with the life cycle of humans , the micro plastic is also getting into our the whole chain is getting effective . Tons of plastic are coming in the Himalayas, the Extended Provisions Reasonability (EPR) has been introduced in the country but it is revolving. The littering of plastic is becoming a serious threat.” said Dr Suresh Atri, environmentalist.Locals living in the region are coming forward and are asking the tourists to contribute in the preservation of the environment by keeping the hills clean and green. “The tourists come here and they throw garbage here, we demand that the authorities should install a dustbin here. We have cattle here for grazing and they eat plastic waste. Plastic is not good for the environment here. Even glass bottles are broken that are also hurting the cattle. We villagers come here and collect and clean the garbage,” said Savita, a local resident.This is a beautiful place, lots of people come here to see the beauty of Himalayan region, Garbage collection system at the tourist spots are very bad. We have seen the garbage thrown in beautiful locations,” said Vijay Patil, Tourist.