Mountains are biodiversity havens, but it’s also where a silent crisis is unfolding. They are drowning in plastic and other waste: From discarded bottles on hiking trails to microplastics embedded in the snow, the problem is escalating at an alarming rate.
Mountain areas host both sprawling cities and rural settlements, providing a home for about 15 per cent of the global population. Population growth, overconsumption and tourism, the generation of waste – especially plastic waste – is surging across mountains. This endangers freshwater resources and biodiversity and in turn poses serious risks for downstream regions.
Mountainous regions face unique challenges and are fragile ecosystems in so far as they have harsh terrain, limited waste management infrastructure, and costly transport make cleanup operations evermore challenging.
Understanding the scale of the problem is the first step towards solving it. Five mountainous countries -Eswatini, Kazakhstan, Peru, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - have completed national inventories of plastic waste using standardised methodologies. These inventories reveal a troubling trend: Plastic waste generation is rising sharply in Central Asia, driven largely by packaging materials such as PET, PE, and PP.
The numbers are striking.
- Tajikistan alone produces an estimated 301,000 to 322,000 tons of plastic waste annually;
- Kazakhstan reported more than 296,000 tons in 2022;
- Uzbekistan exceeded 249,000 tons in the same year.
These findings have prompted action beyond data collection. Each of these countries has carried out regulatory assessments to identify policy gaps and propose improvements aligned with the Basel Convention, laying the groundwork for more effective and environmentally sound management of plastic waste.
So how do we turn the tide on plastic pollution in the world’s highest places?
Data and policy are essential, but real change happens on the ground. Basel Convention funded pilot projects in Kazakhstan, Peru, and North Macedonia are already demonstrating what practical solutions look like.
Infrastructure alone cannot solve the problem - people need to be part of the solution. Public awareness campaigns have been central to these projects. Kazakhstan and Peru launched multilingual campaigns targeting tourists and mountain guides, supported by brochures, videos, and social media engagement. In Kazakhstan, more than 5,000 people were reached online. North Macedonia took a creative approach, producing animated videos, organizing community cleanups that engaged over 5,800 volunteers, and distributing educational materials in both Macedonian and Albanian. Peru’s “Leave Footprints, Not Waste” campaign combined culturally sensitive education with interactive games, while Tajikistan shared its findings at national and global events to amplify the message.
The momentum is far from slowing down. With support from the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund (NREF), new activities are underway in Argentina, Chile, Eswatini, Lesotho, Rwanda, and Seychelles, alongside follow-up projects in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In early 2026, Lesotho will host a major cleanup campaign and stakeholder workshop, while Nepal will join the initiative with interventions planned in the Himalayas in partnership with GRID-Arenda and DOKO recycling.
Plastic waste is a global challenge, but these efforts prove that data-driven policies, community engagement, and international cooperation can turn the tide on this global challenge.