New Delhi, June 14 -- How Big Brands Got Us Hooked On Plastic reads like a corporate thriller, except the villains are real and the consequences devastating. It is a gripping, meticulously researched expose of the insidious role played by giant multinational corporations, such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, in embedding single-use plastics into our daily lives.

A seasoned reporter, Chaudhuri traces the rise of plastic over the last 100 years while detailing how corporate greed, deceptive marketing, and unfulfilled recycling promises have fuelled a gargantuan environmental crisis for the world.

The questions the book raises are all around us in India as well; in the giant landfills that pockmark our cities. "Why...