8th International Conference on Waste to Worth focuses on shifting from linear to circular economy

New Delhi, December 06, 2023: At the 8th International Conference on Waste to Worth, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, Hardeep Singh Puri, stated that we must shift from a linear to circular economy and inculcate a sense of bhagidaari among industry, technology partners, waste management companies and international partners. He further emphasized the need for understanding and exchange of best practices in various dimensions of waste management.

Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Hon’ble Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India, mentioned that circular economy is no more an option for any nation, but a necessity. He further appreciated the efforts of the CII National Task Force on Circular Economy as it envisions a future where national resources are recognized as integral to our national prosperity and emphasizes zero waste within the circular economy.

The National Circular Economy Framework (NCEF) was unveiled by Prof Ajay K Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, along with the dignitaries. NCEF serves as a concise roadmap for India's transition to a circular economy, emphasizing collaboration, awareness, and targeted actions for a sustainable and prosperous future.

While addressing the Inaugural session of the summit, Prof. Sood, stated that as India is completing its G20 Presidency, and has come out with flying colours, brought many important themes with lives and lifestyle for the environment as one of the key themes. This will gain momentum in subsequent G20 nations and India’s contribution will always be remembered.

He further said that this is an opportune moment for India to embrace a circular economy approach and transform challenges into opportunities for sustainable waste management. Recycling plastic waste, electronic waste, and faecal sludge are potential opportunity areas. India should review its waste management challenges, not merely as problems but as opportunities, as it will open the door to transformative advancements in the sector.He further stressed reclaiming value from waste which can be achieved through innovative solutions and data-driven analytics.

Roopa Mishra, Joint Secretary- SBM, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, stated that India has seen massive changes in recent times in terms of waste management, material recovery, waste characterization, waste-to-energy, and aggregated waste processing technologies. She further mentioned that a Garbage-free India journey is possible through inducting principles of 3R. Each city will soon have clear segregation of recyclables and non-recyclables. She also envisaged the requirement of having electricity generation from waste and she identified Mountains of garbage as mountains of Resources which can be efficiently utilized for achieving circularity in the economy.

Prof Anil K Gupta, Chair, CII 3R Awards 2023, Indian Scholar- Innovation and Padma Shri, stated we need to transition from 3R to 4R with repair/rejuvenation as the 4th R. Repair is the skill that India has engrained in its roots and should be leveraged to harness value out of things.  Every city needs to have a WasteExchange system which will help ensure repair/rejuvenation in addition to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Masood Mallick, Chair, CII Task Force on Waste to Worth 2023 and CEO, Re Sustainability,mentioned that waste is no longer just an environmental issue but has significant economic, resource security and strategic impacts. One of the outcomes ofthe G20 deliberations is the realisation that Circularity must be one of the core strategies for building a sustainable, inclusive and resilient Bharat.

Hrishit Shroff, Co-chair, CII Task Force on Waste to Worth 2023 and Executive Director, Excel Industries Ltd., outlined the need for consistency in waste to worth management. He referred to NCEF as being a thought leadership document which will help stakeholders accelerate the journey to a circular economy.

The conference also witnessed the release of the compendium on “Moving towards a Circular Economy through innovative 3R approach”.

The conference also felicitated the winners of the 4th edition of 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Awards to recognise and reward best practices of industry, start-ups, research institutes and municipal corporations for excellence in waste management.

The winners are as follows:

The conference also witnessed multiple sessions and discussions by industry andgovernment stalwarts on various topics revolving around sustainability, waste management, and circular economy.