LUMAMI, NAGALAND, 5th October 2026: A Nagaland University study found that community expectations and social norms strongly influence how people handle plastic waste, highlighting the need for waste-management strategies that work through trusted local institutions and community networks rather than relying on awareness campaigns alone.
The study examined the factors influencing plastic-handling practices among residents of The researchers surveyed 226 residents across Kohima, Dimapur and Chümoukedima districts, supplemented by open-ended responses from 131 respondents and in-depth interviews with 10 additional participants. Data were collected between June and December 2025.
The findings suggest that changing plastic-waste behaviour required more than informing individuals about the environmental consequences of plastic. Community expectations and the practices people observe around them are important and this provides an opportunity to work through institutions that already have social trust and influence
Emphasising the importance of premier academic institutions to study societal issues, Prof. Jagadish Kumar Patnaik, Vice-Chancellor, Nagaland University, said, “This study highlights the important role of community norms, cultural values and collective responsibility in addressing the growing challenge of plastic waste. Sustainable waste management requires not only adequate infrastructure and effective institutional mechanisms, but also active community participation and sustained behavioural change. Research of this nature reinforces Nagaland University’s commitment to socially relevant and evidence-based research, while providing valuable insights that can contribute to developing sustainable, locally appropriate and community-driven solutions for plastic waste management in Nagaland and the wider Northeast region.”
The findings were published in Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2026.101539), an Elsevier Gold open-access journal focusing on environmental and sustainability indicators, environmental management, policy formulation and interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development. Nagaland University faculty Prof. Prabhakar Sharma and Prof. Gyanendra Nath Tiwari co-authored the paper.
The open-access publication fee was supported through the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) initiative of the Government of India.
The findings showed that subjective norms, such as the expectations and behaviour of people around an individual, were the strongest correlate of self-reported plastic-handling practices. Personal attitudes towards plastic waste were also associated with behaviour, while cultural values were found to be a correlate, although the researchers caution that the measure of cultural values had low reliability and therefore should not be interpreted as a proven independent driver.
Elaborating on the study, Prof. Prabhakar Sharma, Head, Department of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Nagaland University, said, “Residents identified lack of awareness, inadequate infrastructure and weak enforcement among the major barriers to responsible plastic-waste management. Our study also revealed a gap between awareness and action. Respondents strongly agreed that plastic is harmful to the environment, with an average score of 4.77 out of 5. However, their scores were considerably lower for access to waste-disposal facilities and confidence in segregating waste, which were approximately 2.7 to 3.2 out of 5.”
Perceived control over waste disposal did not independently predict self-reported behaviour once community norms were considered. This finding does not mean infrastructure is unimportant. Residents continued to identify inadequate waste-management infrastructure as a significant practical barrier, suggesting that infrastructure improvements need to be accompanied by community-level interventions.
The qualitative findings provided further insight into the role of Nagaland’s cultural traditions. Participants noted that traditional beliefs and community practices encourage cleanliness and responsible living, but these traditions were not developed specifically to address the scale and nature of today’s plastic-waste problem. The researchers suggest that existing values could nevertheless provide a foundation for addressing contemporary plastic pollution.
Prof. Gyanendra Nath Tiwari, Head, Department of Teacher Education, Nagaland University, added, “Based on residents’ responses, the most frequently-suggested solutions included greater awareness, improved waste-management infrastructure and stricter enforcement, followed by promoting reduce-reuse-recycle practices, community clean-up drives and incentives. Our study therefore points towards an integrated approach combining improved collection and segregation systems with community-based action.”
The researchers emphasised that institutions such as village councils, religious organisations and youth groups could play an important role in translating existing community values into contemporary environmental practices. Such efforts, they noted, would be most effective when combined with adequate waste collection and segregation infrastructure and effective enforcement.
The study also acknowledges its limitations. The findings are based on self-reported behaviour and do not establish cause-and-effect relationships. The sample was relatively young and male and therefore should not be treated as representative of the entire population of Nagaland.
The researchers called for longitudinal studies, validation of self-reported practices against observed behaviour and actual infrastructure, and further investigation into whether infrastructure influences behaviour indirectly by shaping community norms. They also recommend developing better-validated measures of cultural values and attitudes.
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