Waste to Wealth – Moving towards Circular Economy in India

All India Institute of Local Self-Government, in association with United Nations Centre for Regional Development, 3R Waste Foundation, and Urban Update, organised the 23rd edition of E-Dialogues on the topic ‘Waste to Wealth – Moving towards Circular Economy in India’ on March 22

The Webinar was moderated by Dr Kulwant Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), 3R Waste Foundation. He began by saying that waste to wealth is the need of the hour and according to the website of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, it is set to be an opportunity worth $14 billion by 2025. He added that it is the first step towards developing a circular economy and will go a long way in managing our waste sustainably. The panel of the webinar consisted Swapan Mehra, Vice-President (Waste to Wealth), Invest India; Harish Babu, Senior Executive, Banka Biloloo Limited; KD Bhardwaj, Regional Director (EEIS), National Productivity Council (NPC); Sampath Rajkumar, Consultant, Rural Development Organisation (RDO)-FINISH Mondial; Dr Rajesh C Iyer, Founder, Chairman, CYRA Engines Private Limited, Surat and Nimish Gupta, CEO, RVM (Reverse Vending Machine) Recycle Private Limited.

Mehra began the discussion by defining the ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission of the Government of India. He showed various case studies and on-going projects to convert waste to a more useful form such as ‘Inert waste to Road’ to convert the inert waste of Ghazipur for the construction of roads. He also stressed upon the need to have bio-medical waste disposal facilities at various places and showed various solutions for it. He informed about various sentinels which are working under the Mission Plastic Management Sentinel at Taj Mahal, Agra; Hydrogen from Sewage and Paddy Straw in Ludhiana, Punjab, etc. He concluded by requesting the other panellists to present their suggestions and technologies so that the authorities can work together for a better waste management culture.

Babu took the discussion forward and talked about the treatment of faecal sludge and the way forward. He explained various projects undetaken by Banka Bioloo Limited in the field of faecal waste management across the country. He also explained the process of faecal sludge management in the plant, beginning from the sludge reception to the very end going, through various stages of treatment. He added that the technology of Banka Bioloo is such that 20 to 30 per cent of the excess load can be accepted easily and scaled. “The USP (Unique Selling Point) of the technology is that it is an odourless plant and discharge norms are achieved with minimum electricity and mechanical intervention,” he added. He concluded his session by showing a video of a brief visit to the plant, showing the whole process and infrastructure of the plant which produces treated water and compost for agricultural usage as the output.
KD Bhardwaj continued the event with his introduction about the NPC which provides a range of services in the field of Human Resource Management, Energy Management, Information Technology, etc. He spoke about the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and its need in the present times as it will help in reducing waste. Several categories of waste can be clubbed under EPR such as lead acid batteries, plastic waste, e-waste, etc. He also told about the various stakeholders in EPR such as the Central Pollution Control Board, 6 pollution control committees, 900 producers/manufacturers, multiple collection centres, more than 4000 urban local bodies etc. which have varied roles to play in it. He addressed the issue of slow pace of adoption of EPR and said, “EPR is being adopted, but the process is slow. It is mainly because it has a number of stakeholders responsible for making the process clean for waste management, especially e-waste.” Bhardwaj also cited the example of Taiwan where the system of EPR is completely online, making it easy to adopt and operate. He went on to elaborate on the initiatives of Japan, Germany and Korea, all of which are also adopting EPR. He concluded his presentation by citing the challenges that India is facing in ensuring a smooth EPR process, including selling of e-waste to informal sectors, lack of awareness among consumers, low involvement of municipalities in EPR management, etc.
Sampath Rajkumar talked about the Nilgiris and its challenges in terms of sanitation, where women faced problems and it was ranked the second district in Tamil Nadu for open defecation in 2008. “Various awareness programs and infrastructure development were carried out and the situation has improved drastically since then,” he added. The main goal was to produce usable compost for agriculture from faecal sludge treatment, to establish market linkages to manage finances and to establish a circular economy in sanitation. He added that various technological innovations, like blackwater treatment and recycling, were involved in the process. He said that more importance is given to women to adopt the new innovations as they are connected at the ground level. He also added that the resultant co-compost is analysed for quality standards by various organisations such as Bureau of Indian Standards, European Union, World Health Organisation, etc. He concluded by enumerating the challenges that stakeholders face, such as engagement with panchayats, establishment of source segregation, etc.
Dr Iyer talked about how we can use waste to wealth in an efficient way. He talked about his organisation and their involvement in various fields of waste management such as power generation, bio-gas plants, etc. He said, “Collection and segregation is the most effective part of Waste-to-Wealth and unless this is not taken care of, successful implementation of the program is difficult.” He then explained how waste disposal process like pyrolysis and bio-methanation are effective tools for plastic and bio-degradable waste respectively. Dr Iyer also discussed about the financial side of various types of waste treatment plants including cost, raw material and benefits of purchasing such facilities. He concluded by citing the example of CBG (compressed bio-gas), which is also produced from waste, being a good solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Gupta talked about managing solid plastic PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) waste in India. He talked about the function of Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) and how it collects waste plastic bottles, crushes them and then dispenses discount coupons for the user. The collected bottles are then sent to the centres where they are recycled or sustainably disposed. He said, “Our initiative supports Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and extends the producer responsibilities to all the beverage manufacturers. Moreover, it is a clean technology initiative contributing to circular economy and it is a streamlined waste handling process.” He also showed how RVMs have an average of 150 users per day per machine and have collectively recycled around 190 tonnes of PET bottles. RVMs are installed in some of the most important places such as railway and metro stations, bus stands, schools, offices, temples, etc, he added. He concluded by discussing the effect of pandemic on RVMs and said that people were scared to use the machines initially due to health issues and the collection rate has come down but still the RVMs are in use and they are being used more and more by
the people.