The Himalayan Cleanup

World Environment Day  ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’

May 26, 2018

IMI/ Zero Waste Himalaya

The idea

The Himalayan Cleanup is being organised to focus attention on the problem of waste in the mountains, specifically single use plastic waste. The  Himalayan region, long been portrayed as sacred, pristine and untouched, has a flip side too, of plastic clogged waterways, waste being rolled down hill sides and burnt. The mountains are severely challenged with an ever increasing problem of waste accumulation which is compounded by the fact that many areas in mountain regions are popular tourist destinations, tourism being a major creator of waste. The Himalayan Cleanup aims to bring this growing issue to the fore, through a day dedicated to not only cleaning up our mountains, but also in understanding what is causing the mess.

The cleanup will be carried out simultaneously on May 26, 2018 across the mountain states of India following a uniform guideline, through support and participation of various Government, Non Government Organisations and individuals.

What would it achieve?

The cleanup process shall provide space for participants to get their hands dirty and reflect on the challenges of existing consumption patterns and waste. It is hoped that the campaign conducted simultaneously across the mountains will generate enough participation and publicity to bring the mountains waste issues to the forefront of the nation’s attention. It will enable the strengthening of a core group of people who will take the zero waste movement beyond the cleanup. Just knowing what is in our trash is a great place to begin the journey of zero waste, one that will provide insights into what are the kind of items that need to be reduced in the long run.

The Himalayan level data generated that is being planned to be presented on World Environment Day could form valuable inputs to any policy level exercise or towards advocating for extended producer responsibility with companies whose products create maximum waste in the mountains. It shall ultimately lead to the development of a vision for the mountain states in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals, 2030.

Who can participate?

Anyone can participate in the Himalayan Cleanup, through a simple process of online registration to be part of a cleanup happening nearby here, OR organisations/ institutions can also register their own cleanup events here. But at each state, main cleanup event(s) shall be anchored by regional members of IMI (with Urban Local Bodies/ Government Departments and other partners) along with Zero Waste enthusiasts, the details of which shall be circulated online.   

Site selection

Local organisations are free to select any site for the Himalayan Cleanup that is to their convenience looking at travel time, etc. For instance, schools could look at their own close neighbourhood spots or parks nearby. However, for the main clean up event, the site selection is proposed to be critical and representative of the region, something that catches the attention of the people, as well as the policy makers. A popular tourist spot, a famous landmark, ecologically fragile areas, hospitals, garages, campuses, a particular stretch of road…..

The Cleanup

The Himalayan Cleanup is being envisaged as an exercise that goes beyond cleanup and transport to the dumpsite, but rather something to be conducted with the objective of understanding what constitutes the trash and how much. In keeping with the theme of Beat Plastic Pollution, this will provide key insights into how much of the trash collected is plastic waste; plastics that can be recycled, and plastics that are single - use disposables.

A. Collecting the waste

This forms the first part of the exercise, once the site is finalised and the volunteers are in place. Old sacks could be used for the waste collection drive, and gloves and masks (Please go for sturdy ones that have reuse value, and not use & throw ones). Some bit of segregation during the collection of waste would make the next step of segregation a bit quicker.

B. Segregation and analysis

This shall form the main component of the cleanup exercise, and must be conducted with due diligence. Some space shall be required to undertake this exercise. Keeping the segregation simple, it is proposed to separate the waste into the following broad categories, though organisers can choose to subdivide it further, if they so choose -(kindly refer data sheet too)

1. PET bottles  (water/ soft drink bottles/ oil)
2. Other plastic items (buckets/ containers)
3. Glass bottles 
4. Tins/ Cans and other metal items
5. Paper- cardboard, paper cups, newspapers, magazines, paper packaging
6. Tetrapak cartons
7. Multilayered plastic (chips/ biscuits/sweets/shampoo/gutka)
8. Single use plastic items (plastic bag/ pp bag/ disposables glass and spoons/ styrofoam
9. utensils) 
10. Discarded Clothes and cloth
11. Hazardous waste such as broken glass, sharps, sanitary waste, medical, 
12. A box for e-waste such as batteries/ wires,chargers, etc. 

Volume analysis

Simple datasheets shall be made available on googledocs or downloadable format which can be filled up by the organisers and sent back for collation.

Brand Audit

Can we do a quick estimate of what are the main brands that are showing up in the collected waste items? The idea is to see whether these brands repeat across all the states and we get to know who are the main polluters and advocate for the polluters to be responsible for the waste.  

C. Disposal of the collected waste

• Linking with scrap dealers

Do think of making prior arrangements with local scrap dealers for linking of the recyclable waste that are collected as part of the campaign. These are categories 1, 2, 3 and 4. Generally 60 percent of collected waste fall in this category.

• Disposing the ultimate discards

Support from the Governments, Local bodies can be sought for transport of the ultimate discards of the unsegregated waste to the nearest dumping site even though we do not approve of dumping.

Outreach and communication

Do make efforts to reach out to your local media for extensive coverage of the event. Make the best use of your personal social media spaces also to talk about the event, not just during the event, but also pre and post cleanup.  

Guide all volunteers to bring their own water bottles and think of provisions for refilling those. Plastic water bottles and disposable plastic cups should be a strict No No! Bringing and sharing non-packaged food is a fun zero waste picnic idea, but needs some prior planning..

Clean up and beyond

The clean up will be an opportunity to meet like - minded people and to get involved in the Integrated Mountain Initiative and Zero Waste Himalaya movement. The conversations should not stop after the Cleanup and WED event, but efforts should be made for continued engagement of the group, working towards the purpose of instilling pride in our mountains and strengthening sustainable lifestyles that will ensure that our future generations will inherit the mountains, just as we have.




Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), a platform of 12 mountain states and hill districts in the Indian Himalayan Region advocating for sustainable mountain policies is anchoring The Himalayan Cleanup, - ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’  across the Indian Himalayan Region.

Members of IMI are also active members of Zero Waste Himalaya(ZWH) which is a pan
Himalayan (Bhutan, India, Nepal) collective of zero waste enthusiasts. Zero Waste is a sustainable and holistic approach that looks at lifestyles and resources within closed loop cycles.


Feel free to get in touch with us:
zerowastesikkimdarjeeling@gmail.com
rairoshan@gmail.com
rpgecoss@gmail.com
darshinee.p@gmail.com
animo.animesh@gmail.com