Unpacking Zero Waste – Plastics, People and Planet

A workshop on understanding the impacts of plastics across its ‘lifecycle’ and Zero Waste Alternatives

October 14-18, 2026

Context

For years, waste management discussions have focused on improving segregation, increasing recycling rates and expanding disposal infrastructure. However, there is a growing consensus within the global zero waste movement that waste management alone cannot solve the intertwined crises of climate change, resource depletion and plastic pollution.

According to Zero Waste (ZW) International Alliance, ZW is defined as “the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health”.

As global discussions move beyond recycling towards reducing production itself, India’s continued investment in petrochemical expansion raises difficult questions about climate resilience, resource security and plastic pollution. Increasingly, the ZW concept is being viewed through the lenses of justice, community participation and circularity. The emphasis is shifting upstream, from managing waste after it is generated to preventing waste from being produced in the first place. Another important narrative the ZW challenges is the long-standing assumption that economic growth and increasing material consumption must go hand in hand.

Even as global conversations begin to focus on reducing material throughput, India is pursuing an ambitious expansion of its petrochemical sector. Large refinery-petrochemical complexes, industrial corridors and new investments are being promoted as engines of economic growth. Industry projections anticipate significant increases in domestic plastic production over the coming decades.

At the same time, public policy discussions including India’s new solid waste management rules 2026 continue to focus primarily on collection, recycling and end-of-life management. While these interventions are necessary, they rarely address the upstream drivers, the root causes of waste generation. This creates a growing contradiction.

The concern is not merely environmental. It is also economic. Large-scale investments create long-term dependencies. Once infrastructure is built, there is a strong incentive to maximise production in order to recover costs and generate returns. Such investments can lock economies into resource- and carbon-intensive pathways that become increasingly difficult to reverse.

Waste should not be seen as an inevitable by-product of development. Instead, it represents a significant failure in addressing the uncontrolled overproduction. For India, this perspective is particularly relevant. Organic waste constitutes nearly 61% of municipal waste streams in India. Diverting biodegradable waste towards composting and biogas production can generate renewable energy and also reduce dependence on synthetic fertilisers while improving soil health. 

India already offers local examples of how this shift can work in practice. In Chennai, the Green Chennai Initiative proposes a people-centric roadmap towards a zero-waste city as an alternative to waste-to-energy incineration, while also addressing the root causes of waste generation, including single-use plastics.

To conclude, “Zero waste” presents both a challenge: reconsidering development pathways that depend on expanding petrochemical production, and an opportunity: zero waste can strengthen resource security, reduce import dependence, support local livelihoods and advance climate goals. The future of zero waste therefore begins much earlier than landfills or recycling facilities.

About the Workshop

Center for Financial accountability (CFA) and Sambhaavnaa Institute offer this workshop to help participants understand the relationship between fossil fuels and plastics. It also aims to help the participant understand what it takes to make plastics and the impact that it has on the climate, environment and humans in each stage of its death cycle: from oil exploration, transportation of crude oil, refining, manufacturing of petrochemicals (which are the raw materials for plastics), the production of plastics, consumption and ‘disposal’. The workshop will also help in the critical analysis, monitoring and critique of the role of financial institutions – national and international in the development of the plastics industry buildout and holding them accountable. 

The workshop will help participants explore these issues from the perspective of social and environmental justice. Evidence and data offered in this workshop will help build the participant’s knowledge on the themes covered. 

Learning Goals

1. Develop a critical perspective of the plastics lifecycle including the state-industry nexus, while distinguishing between downstream waste management and upstream source reduction.
2. Understand the relationship between fossil fuels, plastics and climate, and how large-scale petrochemical investments create economic and climate lock-in that makes it difficult to reverse resource-intensive pathways.
3. Critically analyse how systems and policies sideline the climate, environmental and social impacts of the petrochemical and plastics industry in favour of private profit-driven approaches. 
4. Understand the role of national and international financial institutions Power Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, World Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation in funding the plastic infrastructure. 
5. Understanding of the impacts along the plastics death cycle, recognising that waste is not an inevitable by-product of development but a failure of uncontrolled overproduction.
6. Explore the challenges and opportunities of ZW in India by critically examining the contradiction between India’s petrochemical expansion and its waste composition, and by designing community-centric alternatives.

Methodology

The program shall use a variety of methodologies including interactive lectures and discussions facilitated by subject experts, lived experience sharing by activists, film screenings, photo exhibition, and collective reflection, readings and presentations, group and individual exercises, amongst others, to enable participants to reflect on their current understanding, and help deepen the same.

Broad themes include:

1. The Petrochemical Lock-In: Growth Narratives, Climate Contradictions, and  Economic Dependencies.
2. Unpacking the Plastic Death Cycle: Tracing the fossil fuel link and lifecycle impacts from production to post-consumption management.
3. The Downstream Playbook: Policy Gaps, State-Industry Nexus and the Neglect of Root Causes.
4. Turning off the Tap: Financial Institutions, Infrastructure Lock-In, and De-fossilising Investments.
5. Weaving the Web: Community Resilience, Justice, and Localised Zero Waste Alternatives.

Who is the workshop for?

This is a call to all teachers, students, activists, community mobilizers, and concerned citizens who are deeply concerned about this state of affairs today. We invite young minds to come together and use this opportunity to sharpen your understanding and capacities to engage with your surroundings. 

Language:

The primary medium of communication will be in English.

Resource Persons: CFA will anchor the workshop. Resource persons will include members of CFA’s oil and gas team and some thematic experts. The following are the tentative list of speakers-

• Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran, Centre for Financial Accountability
• Vishvaja Sambath, Centre for Financial Accountability
• Swathi Seshadri, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) 
• Soumya Datta, climate expert
• Shibhu, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
• Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, Centre for Science and Environment
• Om Prakash Singh, Centre for Financial Accountability

Contribution to the Program
We request participants to contribute an amount of Rs. 6,000 towards workshop expenses, inclusive of all onsite workshop costs: boarding, lodging, and all the materials used in the workshop. Travel will be borne by the participants. Need-based fee waivers are available. Do remember that there may be others who need it more than you. The fee waivers will be offered to people from marginalized groups and non-funded social, political, or student movements.

Dates: 14th – 18th October, 2026

Venue: Sambhaavnaa Institute, Kandbari, Tehsil, Palampur, District Kangra, PIN 176061, Himachal Pradesh 

To register for the workshop, please fill out this Google form.