Leaders recommend pathways to a sustainable future through collaboration, innovation, and circular economy principles at the 8th International Waste to Worth Conference
On December 6, 2023, the 8th International Conference on Waste to Worth was held in New Delhi. Several influential figures spoke about the need for a transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. The Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, Hardeep Singh Puri, emphasised the importance of collaboration and exchange of best practises in various dimensions of waste management.
On the other hand, the Hon'ble Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, highlighted the circular economy as a necessity rather than an option.
Professor Ajay K. Sood unveiled the National Circular Economy Framework (NCEF) during the conference. This framework provides a roadmap for India's transition to a circular economy, emphasising collaboration, awareness, and targeted actions for a sustainable and prosperous future.
Professor Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, stressed the need 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. He further emphasised reclaiming value from waste, which can be achieved through innovative solutions and data-driven analytics.
Ms. Roopa Mishra, Joint Secretary, SBM, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, mentioned that India has significantly progressed in waste management, material recovery, characterisation of waste to energy, and aggregated waste processing technologies. She also envisioned the requirement of generating electricity from waste. She identified the mountains of garbage as mountains of resources that can be efficiently utilised to achieve economic circularity.
Prof. Anil K. Gupta, Chair, CII 3R Awards 2023, Indian Scholar-Innovation, and Padma Shri, stated that we need to transition from 3R to 4R with repair and rejuvenation as the 4th R. Repair is a skill that India has ingrained in its roots and should be leveraged to harness the value of things. Every city needs a waste exchange system to help ensure repair and rejuvenation and reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Masood Mallick, Chair of the CII Task Force on Waste to Worth 2023 and CEO of Re Sustainability, mentioned that waste is no longer just an environmental issue but has significant economic, resource security, and strategic impacts.
The conference also witnessed the release of a compendium on "Moving towards a Circular Economy through an Innovative 3R Approach" and the felicitation of the winners of the 4th edition of the 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Awards, that recognised and rewarded the best practises of industry, start-ups, research institutes, and municipal corporations for excellence in waste management.