Need for stakeholders to work in tandem to make India zero waste nation

First edition of ‘Circular Economy Symposium (CES) 2017’ gets under way
NEW DELHI, April 25, 2017: The heightened economic and manufacturing activities initiated to give an impetus to the country’s developmental journey has led to an increase in new materials and generation of waste. This needs to be recycled and reused. Therefore, the need of the hour for various stakeholders is to work in tandem to make India a zero waste nation.
This was stated here today by Dr SS Gupta, Senior Development Officer, DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, at the first edition of ‘Circular Economy Symposium (CES) 2017’.
The two-day symposium is organized by FICCI in association with the Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. In a conventional economy, everything is linear, from cradle to grave: extraction, production and disposal.
Circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design, it includes 3R philosophy and demands industry to redesign its processes towards sustainability. Circular economy approach offers opportunities to design and develop goods which they can be repaired rather than replaced, waste is recycled/reused in the production system without entering the biosphere and biological materials will be managed so that they could be returned to the biosphere without contamination. By adopting circular economy approaches, businesses could achieve material cost savings and increase their profits. The key drivers of value creation include better product design, innovative business models, and reverse logistics.
On the occasion, the dignitaries released the knowledge paper on ‘Startup Ecosystem Survey and Best 10 Ideas: Eco-innovators/Waste Management Notable Startups/Organizations in India’. The study is based on a primary survey as well as secondary research on the waste management scenario, policy framework and scientific research papers. The survey focuses
on emerging and established businesses that use innovative technology, challenge the existing business models and have a global outlook. The focus is on these types of companies because their needs are different and generally less understood than those of more traditional industries. It is pertinent to note that under the ‘Bharat Mission’ of Government of India, these types of companies have huge potential for rapid growth and wealth creation.
Of the applications received, the best 10 innovative approaches to resource use optimization and waste management were selected to do a detailed analysis with the relevant information.
In his keynote address, Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra, said that the biggest challenges were landfills and pollution of water bodies. The waste of one industry can be raw material for another and the needs is for the core businesses to manage waste and generate value to make businesses sustainable. He added that effective waste management could help in increasing the GDP of the country by 5-10 per cent.
In his special address, Mr. Anshu Gupta, 2015 Ramon Magsaysay Award Winner and Founder, Goonj, said that India has a robust model for recycling and reuse of waste and resources are available. Still there was a gap in recycling and reuse of waste material. He urged businesses and individuals to begin at office and home by segregating wastes appropriately.
Mr. Vinay Mathur, Deputy Secretary General, FICCI, said that the waste management industry will play a key role at the heart of a circular economy with a transition from the old linear production model towards a resource management approach where industry acts as a provider of raw materials and energy to the rest of the economy. With this background, the first edition of Circular Economy Symposium was envisioned to fill in the information gap around huge potential in diverting resources from being dumped in landfills and fresh water bodies using the closed loop environmental solution.
FICCI was planning to create a working group which would address the issues related to circular economy and waste management. The collective efforts were needed to bring about awareness on circular economy and deliberations were needed on policies and technology that existed in the realm and how they can be leveraged for waste management.