Environment Ministry, Teri Sign MOU to Set up a Resource Efficiency Cell, Launch Initiatives to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Plastic Waste

Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in the run-up to World Environment Day has collaboratively launched some initiatives to support the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to focus on waste management and resource efficiency. Shri CK Mishra, the Secretary of MoEFCC, and Dr. Ajay Mathur, the Director-General of TERI, have uncovered these initiatives at an event at Vigyan Bhawan.

MoEFCC and TERI signed a MoU to establish a Resource Efficiency Cell at the Ministry:

Both MoEFCC and TERI entered a MoU, i.e. Memorandum of Understanding to build a resource efficiency cell in the Ministry. The primary aim of the cell is to give a platform to the mainstream resource efficiency in the public policy. It intends to accomplish this through coordinated thinking, which can be produced among various relevant agencies and Ministries for promoting resource efficiency in the use of materials in the country. Besides approving the preparation of a ruling resource efficiency policy for India, regulatory mechanisms, and coordinated sectoral policies, it aims to assure systems thinking, which must be based on products, processes, and materials.

The European Union and MoEFCC also signed a JDI, i.e., Joint Declaration of Intent at an event hosted by TERI, in which they have declared to support the implementation of EU Resource Efficiency Initiative Project (EU-REI) in India. They have also stated to encourage the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources in the country. Moreover, the JDI will endeavor to advance the scientific, management and technological capacities of the EU, MoEFCC, and other associated partners involved from the public and private sector and also the implemented partners in the field of Resource Efficiency.

An industry consortium consisting of eight members-  Aditya Birla Group, Uflex Ltd, Dalmia (Bharat) Cement Ltd, KidZania India – ImagiNation Edutainment India Pvt Ltd, DS Group of Companies, and RED FM has been launched. The consortium on “Waste-Proofing the Future” focuses on identifying the institutional and policy interventions that are required to sustainably manage waste.

It is reported that it’s been the first time when stakeholders from diverse sectors have join hands for the cause of waste management. The roadmap created for the consortium includes creating a supply chain for different types of waste to develop business cases for all stakeholders. As a start to it, waste collection points will be established in schools through KidZania, and for proper implementation, policy researches will be conducted.

Each year, India produces around 32 million metric tons of packaging waste, out of which plastic holds a good percentage, i.e., 16. Only 14% of 16% is being collected for packaging because of the unorganized collection of waste, which leads to cherry-picking of residues.

Resource efficiency includes a wide variety of process, technology, policy, and institutional issues with various stages of product life cycles, i.e., design, manufacturing, refurbishment, and end-of-life and the three R’s are also included, i.e., Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

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