Walk the beach at dawn in this small fishing town in Kerala and you will find footprints, crab holes and very little else. Five years ago, plastic washed up in drifts.
The change came from the fishing community. The panchayat now pays boats a small fee for every kilo of plastic they bring back from sea, and shops charge a ₹5 deposit on every bottle sold, refunded on return.
Collected plastic is shredded at a unit run by a women’s collective and sold to a road-building contractor. The town has turned waste into a small but steady source of income.
