Recently, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change has drafted a National Resource Efficiency Policy, in order to double the recycling rate of key materials and enable the upcycling of waste. According to the draft policy, there are major gaps in the waste management system in the country and a Recycling and Reuse Policy is an important element of any environmental strategy. The Ministry is expected to come up with final guidelines on it soon.
The pressure on the environment has increased due to the rapid increase in population and urbanization. Many economic sectors (industrial, agricultural) are competing for the same resources. The pressure comes from the fact that most of our consumed resources are finite, i.e. they are not replenished at a rate faster than consumption leading to depletion of natural resource stocks. The most important resources in this context are petroleum products, metal ore, forests and freshwater. To deal with global warming these depletable natural resources are being looked upon as scarcer and therefore more expensive.
In a circular economy, the use and dispose model won’t work further. In this circular economy, all kinds of materials are processable and can be reused, as in construction and manufacturing, or products that are used again in their original form or purpose. This regenerates the materials and makes them valuable to consumers. It implies reshaping of sources in terms of changing production processes, resource collection, and recycling processes to improve their efficiency while removing problematic ones.
The linear production and consumption model is leading towards a lot of wastage in the entire value chain. A lot of discarded resources are on one hand the consequence of the linear model we still operate at and on the other hand, it is the price we pay for economic growth. We live in Resource conservative times which means that even if there are sufficient resources to feed our global population today, we should protect our natural capital in order to maintain a healthy ecological balance.
With the ban imposed by NGT on more than ten years old diesel vehicles in National Capital Region, people who owned such vehicles found themselves helpless and their money investment turned into scrap. Additionally, there were a lot of liters diesel car owners who had no other choice but to leave their old vehicles and buy some other alternative like CNG, buy a new vehicle, etc.
The plastic bottles that we use for storing water and other beverages account for about 20% of the total solid waste generated in the United States homes. The process of producing these plastic bottles accounts for the large number of fossil fuels used in manufacturing. Plastic bottles are the main source of plastic waste that is found in landfills, water sources, and other areas around geographical locations where waste is disposed of. The amount of energy needed to produce these plastic bottles contributes to the problem. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide enter our environment as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. These gases contribute to global warming, which affects geopolitics as well as global climatic changes (Green).
The decision to have a Recycle and Reuse Policy, in the current scenario, is essential. Many countries have already framed relevant policies. The idea behind this policy is to reuse products and materials that can be reused for similar purposes. This would not only help in reducing the burden on the environment but also maintain a sustainable use of resources, which, at the end of the day, is essential for the future generations