Researchers and students from an environment-focused group at the Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur participated in a transboundary expedition Sea to Source: Ganges” organized by the National Geographic Society to scientifically document plastic waste in the Ganges watershed and support holistic and inclusive solutions. The IIT research group carried out the waste characterization from the city/town dumpsite waste samples, as well as the samples collected along the river from Rishikesh to Howrah. It helped in estimating the extent of mismanaged plastics in the waste, the type of plastics present in the waste and the estimation of the fraction of mismanaged waste plastics getting into the river Ganga. A model is also being developed using the field data to have a realistic estimation of the plastic pollution transport from land to river and eventually to the ocean.

Link: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/studying-plastic-pollution-in-the-ganga-with-national-geographic/