Last year, 17 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath during the yatra season.
This year, the number of registered pilgrims has crossed 10 lakh within just 40 days.
The annual influx of pilgrims leaves behind significant amounts of plastic and other dry waste in one of India's most ecologically sensitive Himalayan regions.
Collecting, transporting, and processing this waste is a formidable challenge, given the high altitude, rugged terrain, and limited infrastructure.
“On the waste side, every material you would find in an urban space ends up here—PET bottles, multi-layered plastic (MLP), glass.
