Like so many of the environmental challenges we face, this issue has been largely ignored in the mainstream, which has led us to the extraordinary situation where we have one million bottles being bought every minute globally. India’s contribution to this problem is significant. The government must take responsibility for this growing crisis. One easy step forward would be to introduce a bottle deposit scheme. Customers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop, which then can be sent for recycling.