Data Report: How much plastic waste does Madhya Pradesh recycle?

Plastic has long been a problem that needs to be controlled across the world. According to the study conducted by Nature, India is the leading emitter of plastic waste with 9.3 million tonnes (Mt) of plastic waste annually, which is about 1/5th of the global emissions.

The study published in Nature in 2024 underestimates India’s waste generation rate of 0.12 kg per capita per day. This is mainly due to uncontrolled open incineration of waste and uncollected plastic waste.

Nevertheless, irregular reporting standards and the informal recycling sector can also be attributed since the high-income countries have higher plastic waste generation rates, but none are ranked in the top 90 polluters, as most have 100 percent collection coverage and controlled disposal.

India has made efforts to tackle plastic pollution under:

• The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

• Further amendments to these rules in 2018, 2021, and 2024

• The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework.

These rules face execution challenges. Plastic waste management faces inconsistencies across states and limited infrastructure for implementing changes.

Zooming in on plastic waste recycling in MP

Indore in Madhya Pradesh has consistently maintained the top spot for the cleanest cities in India since 2017. Cities in Madhya Pradesh generate various types of plastic waste, including PET (used in bottles), HDPE (containers, pipes), LDPE (plastic bags, sheets), PVC (cables, pipes), PP (food containers), and multilayer plastics (packaging). These arise from household use, packaging, industrial waste, and single-use plastic products, requiring different recycling or disposal methods.

Plastic waste in Madhya Pradesh or any state, as a matter of fact, is collected and segregated through both formal and informal systems. Formal methods include door-to-door collection by municipalities, Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), and colour-coded bins. Informal systems involve waste pickers, scrap dealers, and ragpickers, who manually sort and sell recyclable plastics. Both systems are crucial for efficient plastic waste management.

After analysing annual reports from 2020 to 2024, we found the following highlights:

The total amount of Plastic Waste generated in Madhya Pradesh from 2020 to 2024 is as follows:

In 2020-21, the plastic waste was 138,483 MT. This was reduced to 132,955 MT in 2021-22. But in the following years, i.e., 2022-23 and 2023-24, this value increased to about 1,80,000MT. This suggests that policies, such as a ban on single-use plastics, have little impact.

Our analysis of regional office–wise data over the past four years reveals key insights into plastic waste generation across Madhya Pradesh. Indore consistently emerges as the highest contributor of plastic waste among all regions. These regional offices oversee the collection, disposal, and recycling of plastic waste for their respective Nagar Nigams, Nagar Palikas, and Nagar Parishads.

The number of recyclers or plastic waste processors has increased year on year. This is attributed to the fact that the overall plastic waste has increased, as mentioned earlier, to about 180,000 MT.

The number of compostable bag manufacturers has increased ninefold in just three years.

It is also seen that the number of Multi-Layer Plastic manufacturers has decreased, and other plastic manufacturers have increased.

Utilization of Plastic Waste in Madhya Pradesh

According to data from 2020–21, a total of 114 recyclers across 11 regional offices, located in Bhopal, Mandideep, Indore, Dhar, Pithampur, Ujjain, Dewas, Gwalior, Guna, Chhindwara, and Satna, produced 64,685.831 metric tonnes of plastic. This plastic was produced from 63,401.405 metric tonnes of waste plastic.

Similarly, for the years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24, we can see trends for the amount of plastic waste utilised for the recycling of plastic.

Trends indicate that Indore, which generates the highest volume of plastic waste in Madhya Pradesh, also possesses the largest recycling capacity in the state. However, over the past four years, some recycling units have shut down. For instance, one facility in Satna closed in 2023. Despite this, the total volume of plastic processed in Satna continued to rise.

In addition to recycling, Madhya Pradesh has increasingly utilized plastic waste as fuel in cement kilns. An initial target of 46,150 MT for co-processing was not only met but exceeded by approximately 9,000 MT. Over the four-year period, the state's capacity to co-process plastic waste in cement kilns has nearly doubled.

In recent years, Madhya Pradesh has actively utilized waste plastic in the construction of rural roads. These infrastructure projects are being implemented under the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the Madhya Pradesh Road Connectivity Project (MPRCP). The visualization below illustrates the quantity of plastic waste used in road construction over the past four years.

Madhya Pradesh recycles the majority of its plastic waste, followed by co-processing in cement kilns, while a smaller portion is used for constructing rural roads.

Plastic waste in Madhya Pradesh has continued to rise despite national bans and updated regulations. While Indore leads in both waste generation and recycling capacity, the state saw a sharp increase in total plastic waste from about 133,000 MT in 2021–22 to nearly 180,000 MT in 2023–24.

The informal sector plays a major role in collection and segregation. Recycling has expanded, along with the use of plastic waste in cement kilns and rural road construction. The number of compostable bag manufacturers has increased, while multi-layer plastic producers have declined.

Despite these trends, uneven policy enforcement and lack of accountability for producers and consumers continue to fuel the problem. Without addressing the root cause, overconsumption, plastic waste will keep growing faster than the systems built to manage it.

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