Ladakh Marathon’s fight against plastic: 20 PET bottles, one race bib and a lesson for young India

20 PET bottles for a race bib: How Ladakh Marathon is using young runners to fight plastic waste and spread environmental awareness.

Ladakh: Ladakh Marathon produced another incredible edition in 2026, with its various races drawing participants from across the country and captivating audiences in Ladakh and beyond. The event featured several high-octane races, including the 122 km Silk Route Ultra, 72 km Khardung La Challenge, a full marathon and many more. However, whenever an event of this scale takes place, one issue inevitably comes under the scanner: the use of plastic. At the Ladakh Marathon, though, despite multiple races being held over four days, organisers ensured that the environment remained a priority, while also sending a strong message against single-use plastics and raising awareness among participants.

The event attracted a large number of participants and also boosted tourism, leading to a surge in the use of plastic water and soft-drink bottles. But Chewang Motup Goba, the man behind the Ladakh Marathon, found a way to tackle the problem by announcing an innovative initiative: students who submitted 20 PET bottles would get free entry, including a bib, to the 5 km Race for Fun. The message was taken to schools across Ladakh, drawing an enthusiastic response from students.

With a focus on engaging the younger generation in its efforts to reduce plastic waste, Chewang explained to Hindustan Times Digital how the initiative worked, encouraging students to collect PET bottles in exchange for a race bib.

"We have this scheme where all these students who run this race have to contribute 20 PET bottles. They have to collect, and it's like that's their entry fee. Yeah. They get the bib if they contribute 20 PET bottles. So, they realise it's going around the streets and the market and anywhere collecting bottles to get a bib for this race," Chewang told Hindustan Times Digital in an exclusive interview.

Chewang had a dedicated place thought out to collect plastic bottles, with loads of them arriving in bunches from different schools. An entire pit was filled with them. He believes awareness about keeping the environment clean needs to start at a young age, with children playing an important role in building the habit from the very beginning. He feels the Ladakh Marathon has been able to convey that message to the younger generation, but much more still needs to be done.

"So, right from childhood, I mean, young people, we really need to build that. If really our country needs to come out of that as a big garbage, you know, with the kind of litter we do all across, I think we need to start right from the young people in school, right at the foundation, to make our country clean, litter, you know, very sensitive to the environment. And the Ladakh Marathon, I think we were, we are pretty successful in creating that awareness, and we are very happy, but as I said, we need to do more in the near future," he added.