Circular economy practices within energy and waste management sectors of India: A meta-analysis

Bioresource Technology 304 (2020) 123018

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Circular economy practices within energy and waste management sectors of India: A meta-analysis Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash

T

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Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India

Enablers for

Linear Economic Value Chains

Circular Closed Value Chains

transition

G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

Research dedicated to Circular Economy (CE) Potential of Renewable Energy and Waste Management sectors in transition towards CE Policy Research and interventions related to CE

Attainment of UN-SDGs

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Circular economy India Policy frameworks Renewable energy Sustainable development goals Waste management

Adoption of circular practices within environmental management is gaining worldwide recognition owing to rapid resource depletion and detrimental effects of climate change. The present study therefore attempted to ascertain the linkages between circular economy (CE) and sustainable development (SD) by examining the role of renewable energy (RE) and waste management (WM) sectors in CE combined with policy setup and enabling frameworks boosting the influx of circularity principles in the Indian context. Results revealed that research dedicated towards energy recovery from waste in India lacks integration with SD. Findings also revealed that although India is extremely dedicated towards attainment of the SDGs, penetration of CE principles within administration requires considerable efforts especially since WM regulations for municipal, plastic and e-waste lack alignment with CE principles. Integration of WM and RE policies under an umbrella CE policy would provide further impetus to the attainment of circularity and SD within the Indian economy.

1. Introduction The effects of bio-physical systems deterioration quantified in terms of resource depletion, pollution and rising greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions negatively impacts the environment while restricting development within the social and economic dimensions of sustainability (Hashimoto et al., 2012). In wake of growing stress on the planet’s limited natural resources, governing bodies world-wide are becoming increasingly interested in models, frameworks and approaches dedicated towards sustainable development (SD) (Morseletto, 2020). The adoption of emerging paradigms such as circular economy (CE) principles within environmental management is one of such strategies for the transition towards a low-carbon and less polluting economy. While the concept of CE is relatively new, the theory of CE is closely

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associated with various other economic sustainability approaches such as industrial ecology (IE) and industrial symbiosis (IS), essentially targets the circularization of linear value chains (Morseletto, 2020). Although the principles of CE has been in circulation for long (www. eea.europa.ea), its definition is subjected to vast ambiguity owing to its close association with sustainability and SD (Corona et al., 2019), presence of similar concepts like green economy, (Kirchherr et al., 2017; www.unep.org) and a lack of assessment methodologies for the quantitative measurement of circular systems. However, despite the impediments, the concept has widely gained recognition within business models (www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) and policy frameworks (Murray et al., 2017). A comprehensive definition for a CE can be envisaged as a system, process or approach operating at the industry, eco-industrial park or regional level (Kirchherr et al., 2017) that

Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (P.C. Abhilash).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123018 Received 26 November 2019; Received in revised form 8 February 2020; Accepted 11 February 2020 Available online 13 February 2020 0960-8524/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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P. Priyadarshini and P.C. Abhilash

2.1. Macro scale adoption of CE

emulates the natural systems. This emulation essentially arises in terms of regeneration through recycling (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017), closed loop material flows (Sauvé et al., 2016) as well as waste reduction and elimination (www.ec.europa.eu) thereby ensuring an advancement of human well-being and SD (Murray et al., 2017). Morseletto (2020), further refined the concept of CE as an “economic model aimed at the efficient use of resources through waste minimization, long-term value retention, reduction of primary resources, and closed loops of products, product parts, and materials within the boundaries of environmental protection and socioeconomic benefits”(Morseletto (2020). Any new approach or framework requires some measurement system and previous studies have attempted to define the requirements that a progress monitoring system for CE should meet (Elia et al., 2017; Pauliuk, 2018). Corona et al. (2019) carried out an extensive literature survey to elucidate the circularity metrics and divided them into circularity assessment indices and circularity assessment tools of which the latter was sub-divided into indicators and frameworks. The requirements or operating rules on which these indices and tools are based include reduction of input resources, emissions and waste while increasing shelf life of products, process efficiency and recycled products (Corona et al., 2019). The frameworks most often serving as tools in CE progress assessment include Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Fregonara et al., 2017) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) (Pauliuk, 2018) especially since the “end of life” context is very closely associated with CE and tends to be more intensely explored within research as compared to CE. Another closely associated concept with CE is that of SD (SuárezEiroa et al., 2018) with the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability forming greater coherence with the principles of CE. However, the same cannot be said with respect to the social dimension (Sauvé et al., 2016). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) providing a pathway to world economies for harmonious co-existence with nature contains a number of goals and targets associated directly or indirectly with CE principles. SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) in particular with its associated targets related to the importance of efficiency in resource management, reduction in food losses and waste generation reduction through recycling and reuse substantiate this linkage (www.sustainabledevelopment.un. org). Besides, target 8.4 of goal 8 (Decent work and Economic Growth) stresses on the need to achieve decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation which is a key operating principle of CE (www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org). Therefore, it is evident that policy-makers regard CE as an important approach in attaining sustainability. The present analysis was therefore dedicated towards comprehending the role of CE in fostering sustainability in India particularly within the renewable energy (RE) and waste management (WM) sectors. Although, research has been dedicated to the problem of waste generation and its lack of management (www.think-asia.org), energy potential of waste generated in India, and also the various waste to energy (WtE) conversion processes are available (Mohan et al., 2018), in the present study we attempted to analyse the waste management sector in India from the context of CE and sustainability. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were formulated to (i) examining the role of the research community in advancement of CE principles at the global and national stratum, (ii) assessing the potential of RE and WM sectors of India in influencing transition towards a circular economy, and (iii) understanding the key features of national policy regulations in context of CE and their linkages with the SD Goals and Targets.

Implementation efforts for a CE can be envisaged at the micro, meso and macro scales of which the macro refers to implementation at the level of societal or national scales (Elia et al., 2017). Meanwhile, even though previous assessments have tried to evaluate CE definitions available in literature (Kirchherr et al., 2017) and sustainability based indicators useful for a CE (Kravchenko et al., 2019), research publications dedicated to establishing linkages between sustainability and CE as well as country based efforts aiming for a transition towards CE remains relatively under-evaluated. The approach for fulfilling the first objective therefore involved undertaking a Scopus based survey (www. scopus.com) by using various combinations of keywords such as ‘economy and resource efficiency’, ‘bioeconomy’, circular economy and policy research’, ‘circular economy and China’, ‘circular economy and France’, ‘circular economy and India’ for retrieval of research and review articles dedicated to the same. The time period was limited from 2000 to 2019 in order to retain the focus on recent articles. 2.2. Assessment of waste and energy sectors of India with respect to emergence of CE A preliminary assessment of the potential of major economic sectors of India in fostering CE was undertaken followed by data procurement from the annual reports of various ministries of India such as the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MOEF&CC), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) (www. mospi.gov.in), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) (www. mohua.gov.in) and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) (www.mnre.gov.in) responsible for implementing and disseminating responsibilities related to WM and RE. The figures obtained helped in ascertaining the progress achieved by the country in the fields of waste recycling, WtE conversion, solar and wind based energy installations (www.mospi.gov.in; www.cpcb.nic.in). This was followed by literature scoping to undertake a broad spectrum overview of research efforts in India centred on development of technologies, processes and policies for WtE conversion. 2.3. Policy interventions for transition towards a CE Governance and policy framing would play a critical role in transition of world economies towards circularity especially since the concept of CE is not all pervasive within administrative circles and citizen knowledge (Kirchherr et al., 2017). Therefore, the existing regulations in India related to WM and RE were examined to gauge their coherence with the SDG targets. The analysis involved acquiring regulation documents related solid plastic, hazardous and e-waste along with the policy documents on biofuels and off-shore wind from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) (www.cpcb.nic.in), MNRE (www.mnre.gov.in) and Gazette of India websites followed by their subsequent scanning for mention of strategies and objectives related to CE (www.egazette.nic.in). The SDG targets directly or indirectly affected by these features and appropriate recommendations suggested were then studied (www.niti.gov.in). 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Research dedicated towards circular economy The principles and practices surrounding the concept of circular economy have gained widespread recognition within scientific community in recent years which was evident from the results of the Scopus survey as the search hit ‘circular economy’ yielded the maximum number of results. However, the integration of CE with major areas influencing the development such as RE and WM as well as within policy frameworks is still evidently missing as even-though individual

2. Materials and methods A step wise methodology was adopted for fulfilling the objectives of the meta-analysis.

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3500

450 420

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Review

350 2500

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50 1

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0

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Circular economy and Canada

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25

Circular economy and Mexico

4 30

Circular economy and Germany

5

31

Circular economy and Sweden

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6

Circular economy and France

380

Circular economy and Finland

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183

Circular economy and India

161

Circular economy and Malaysia

646 38

Bioeconomy

Circular economy and resource efficiency

Circular Economy

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Circular economy and technology

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Circular economy and policy research

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Circular economy and waste management

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100 739

Circular economy and China

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Circular economy and sustainability

1000

Review Articles (2000-2019)

Research

3210

Circular economy and renewable energy

Research Articles (2000-2019)

3000

Fig. 1. Results of the Scopus survey (www.scopus.com) conducted to analyse the research trends in the realm of circular economy. The figures in red indicate the article numbers while those in black reflect the review results. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

immensely through the incorporation of CE principles within various sectors influencing its economy and generating waste that can be reclaimed. In this regard, the MOEF&CC (www.parivesh.nic.in) established a Resource Efficiency (RE) cell with the Indian Resource Panel serving as its Advisory Committee (www.cii.in). Primarily, the automotive manufacturing sector of the country contributes almost 7.1% to its GDP and utilises various metals like iron, aluminium zinc along-with steel, glass and plastics in a linear value chain manner (www.wsds.teriin.org). Likewise the Appliance and Consumer Electronics (APE) market in India is expected to grow exponentially fuelled by the increasing number of policies focusing on digitization. With increase in imports, the e-waste generation is also expected to increase by almost 30% reaching 52 lakh MT per annum in 2020 (www.wsds.teriin.org). Moreover, the construction and demolition (C&D) industry of India would also witness growth owing to schemes like the PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana/ Housing for All) (www.niti.gov.in). Table 2. further provides an overview of how the major sectors contributing towards national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also have the potential of serving CE principles. Attaining RE through material recycling in major GDP influencing sectors of India would not only foster the growth of CE but also simultaneously reduce the country’s reliance on imports. According to Nussholz and Milios 2017, recycling of resources in the construction value chain can be attained at the material manufacture, design planning and end of life stages. Besides, with the country being the second largest producer of C&D waste (Akhtar and Sarmah, 2018), integrated wet recycling offers a viable solution for C&D WM with over 95 percent of waste recovery combined with minimum environmental impacts (Jain et al., 2020). Additionally, Grimes et al. (2008) point out that usage of recycled aluminium, one of the major components in both the manufacturing and APE sectors can conserve almost 94.89% of primary and secondary energy requirements. Similarly, the municipal solid waste (MSW) and industrial waste offers electricity potentials of 1700 MW and 1300 MW, respectively (Mohan et al., 2018). Besides, blue economy (BE), defined as the sustainable procurement of marine resources achieved through decoupling of economic activities and

search strings like renewable energy (81623) and waste management (97475) yielded numerous results, their combination with CE lowered the results considerably (Fig. 1). Sorting of articles based on the relevance in each category revealed that several articles approached CE through waste management as well as through improvement in product/ process efficiency. Furthermore, the developed and fast emerging economies from United States, Europe and South Asia were combined with the keyword CE to comprehend research efforts dedicated to this concept at national scales. Search results yielded maximum results for China followed by Germany. This is visible in practice also as China has formulated the Circular Economy Promotion Law (2009) and the Circular Economy Development Strategy and Immediate Plan of Action (2013) for integration of cleaner production strategies within the economic development (www.teriin.org). Table 1 further provides some case studies of research efforts dedicated towards understanding the development of bioeconomy at the country scale. Furthermore, the EU Strategy on Bioeconomy, 2012 focuses on sustainable development through enhanced focus on renewable biobased products and close loop value chains (Patermann and Aguilar, 2018). Likewise, concern over depleting resources and increasing emissions led to the emergence of bioeconomy within the United States with bioenergy (bioethanol, biogas, biodiesel) and bioproducts (biochemical, biopolymer, bioadhesives) constituting 2.5% of the US economy in 2017 (Guo and Song, 2019). 3.2. Potential for emergence of CE in India 3.2.1. Major sectors influencing CE in India Results of the objective 1 make it apparent that fragmented research is being dedicated towards the necessity of adopting sustainability and circularity practices within economies for the continued sustenance of environment and development. India, with a growing human population and material consumption consumes almost 7.2% of globally extracted resources and accounts for 6.6% of the global fossil-fuel consumption (www.teriin.org). Therefore, the country could benefit 3

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Table 1 (continued)

Table 1 An indicative list of research and policy initiatives dedicated world-wide towards the transition towards a circular or bio-based economy. Country/ Region

Focus sector

Country/ Region

Reference

• •

China

• • •

• • •

environmental degradation (Bari, 2017) is another sector which displays considerable potential with respect to CE (Islam and Shamsuddoha, 2018). Moreover, in India, with an annual growth rate (2017–18) of 8.06% (inland and marine) in the fisheries sector with most of the fish catch being utilised for marketing purposes and employing a larger percentage of traditional and mechanical fishing crafts as compared to motorised boats (www.apps.iasri.res.in) would benefit immensely through transition towards CE (Pauly, 2018). Therefore, the adoption of CE practices is crucial towards ensuring the economic sustainability of the country.

Borgström (2018)

Key findings: Identification of need for legislative interventions for transition towards a bioeconomy. Incorporation adaptive principles combined with enhanced public participation and transparent systems for crucial for integration of bioeconomy principles within natural resource governance. Integration of forest governance with other sectors such as pollution control, nature conservation as well as presence of adequate monitoring mechanisms would boost bioeconomy.

• • • • • • •

Innovative frameworks and programs to boost bioeconomy

Stadler and Chauvet (2018)

3.2.2. Waste and energy sectors in India India contributed a total of 2066 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in the year 2015 with fuel combustion activities of the manufacturing, construction and transport sectors being the major emitters followed by fugitive fuel emissions, industrial processes like metal production and agriculture (www.mospi.gov.in). Furthermore, the waste generated from all these processes results in methane and nitrous oxide emissions. In India, the major waste categories include solid waste, hazardous waste, e-waste, plastic waste as well as C&D waste (www.think-asia.org). Meanwhile, the general chain involved in the management of wastes includes collection, segregation, transportation, treatment and processing followed by final disposal (www.thinkasia.org). On the other hand, a state based summation placed the gross energy requirement of the country at 1,142,929 Million Units with the northern and western regions comprising of population dense states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra being the top placed. A deficit of 1.6% exists between the energy requirements and supplies (www.mospi.gov.in). The major source of energy is thermal based (coal, petroleum and gas) followed by hydro, renewable and nuclear energy sources (www.mospi.gov.in). Table 3 further attempts to describe the present trends in the waste management (generation and treatment) and renewable energy (setup of decentralised units) sectors of the country. As evident from Table 3, a wide disparity exists in the amount of waste generated versus recycled. As of 2017, of the total MSW generated in India, 91% was collected of which only 23% was treated and the remaining was land-filled (www.mospi.gov.in). Similar is the case with e-waste recycling wherein a mere 3.47% of the total amount generated is recycled (www.loksabha.nic.in). Additionally, the annual report monitoring the details of plastic waste management does not provide quantitative details regarding amount of waste recycled at an all India or state level (www.cpcb.nic.in). The major problems associated with

Key findings: Bio based chemicals, materials and bioenergy production under the Industries and Agro-Resources (IAR) cluster policy launched in 2005 in the Grand Est and hautsde-France regions. Emergence of industrial biotechnologies within the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery through product valorization, effluent management and optimal usage of water and energy illustrating the concept of industrial ecology. The PIVERT Institute (energy transition) and IMPROVE innovation platform (plant protein improvement) as examples of public–private partnerships in building a bioeconomy.

Malaysia

Public policies and initiatives focusing on research in biotechnology and bioeconomy

Arujanan and Singaram (2018)

Key findings: Launch of the National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) along with its various thrust sectors targeting biotechnology as a key driver of the country’s economy. Launch of the Bioeconomic Transformation Programme (BTP) in 2012 aligned with the NBP and focused on enhancing agricultural productivity, healthcare and industrial sustainability. Need for exploration of the biotechnology-bioeconomy nexus in various other potential areas like aquaculture, biomass and plant based pharmaceuticals.

• • •

Poland

Research activities from 2009 to 2015 in the context of bioeconomy

Wozniak and Twardowski (2018)

Key findings: Absence of a single, comprehensive document dedicated towards bioeconomy. The Strategy for Innovation and Efficiency of the Economy, Strategy of Energy Safety and Environment and Strategy of Sustainable Development of Agriculture, Rural Areas and Fisheries are related to bioeconomy. Identification of agriculture, agro-food processing and industry and forestry as three potential sectors of the country with respect to bioeconomy.

• • •

Spain

Critical analysis of Spain’s bioeconomy strategy of 2016

Liu et al. (2017)

•

• •

France

Policy considerations and practices related to waste recycling in context of circular economy

Key findings: Policy interventions at the local, state, administrative and ministerial level dedicated to circular economy for example The Circular Economy Promotion Law (2009). Circular economy development Index released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China in 2005. The index comprises of resource consumption intensity, waste emission intensity, waste recycling rate and waste disposal rate. Considerable achievements in circular economy attainment through efficient management of municipal solid waste and e-waste has been achieved although enforcement of management policies related to ‘zero waste’ could further boost the cause.

•

Legislative considerations for forests and natural resource management

Reference

consideration of social, political and administrative concepts. • Due development for bio based products and sustainable value chains. • Market creation for bioproducts • Demand • Expansion of Spain’s bioeconomy policies to the EU strategies.

Canada Agricultural research and innovation Sarkar et al. (2018) Key findings: The Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change aims to address concerns related to climate change through carbon pricing. Innovation Agenda defined by the federal government in 2016 to address government efforts in innovation and research particularly in the sectors of health, manufacturing and agriculture. AgriInnovation Program within the five year policy framework Growing Forward 2 which is focused in funding innovation, market development and sustainability within agriculture. Securing agricultural systems through rapid identification of pests using DNA barcodes instead of the traditional taxonomic identification. Use of Next Generation Sequencing to discover disease resistance, winter hardiness and early maturity traits within wheat, maize and other crop species for crop improvement. Mapping of soil data using satellite data for accurate prediction of flood risks in rural areas. Application of metagenomics for characterization of microbiomes and assessment of soil and water health assisting sustainable agriculture. Agricultural Bioproducts Innovation Program started in 2006 targeting investment in bioproducts. Finland

Focus sector

Lainez et al. (2018)

Key findings: Operational objectives and strategic concepts identified for the promotion and propagation of the bioeconomy policy. Public and private research involvement for funding purposes and data generation.

• •

4

Bioresource Technology 304 (2020) 123018

Engines, doors, bumpers from old vehicles reused in new vehicles, batteries, catalytic convertors, tyres, plastics recycled into new products Recycled paper, insulation boards, wall panels, bricks, compost, electricity generation, bioethanol Fly ash bricks, Portland cement, blended cement, asphalt pavements, demolition material, plastic waste modified bitumen for road construction Automotive Sector: recovery of 1.5 MT of steel scrap and 0.18MT of aluminium scrap through efficient recycling (NITI Aayog, GoI, 2017b)

*GVA-Gross Value Added.

1,376,293 Crore

Renewable Energy Sector of India

Municipal Solid Waste, 2017 Generated- 142,870 TPD Collected- 129,967 TPD Treated- 29650.42 TPD Landfills- 35,647 TPD Hazardous Waste, 2017 Generated- 7.17 MT Recycled- 3.68 MT Plastic Waste 2018–19 Generation-3360043 TPA E-waste, 2016 Generation- 20 lakh tonne

Installed Capacity of Renewable Power42849.40 MW Decentralised Biogas Plants- 48.35 lakh Decentralised Solar Cooker Devices1221.26 lakh Decentralised WtE Devices- 154.48 lakh Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Systems31.09 lakh Small Hydro power projects set up- 1076

the solid waste management in India includes inadequate processing and disposal facilities, ineffective implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 by the state governments, unscientific landfills and lack of co-ordination between the authorities concerned with waste management (www.cpcb.nic.in). While the country has 4773 registered and 1084 unregistered plastic manufacturing/recycling units, source collection and segregation remains an issue (www.cpcb. nic.in). Aryan et al. (2018) estimated the heating value of plastic (Polyethylene Terephthalate, PET) as 22381.92 KJ/kg PET waste while the electricity generation was computed as 1.392 kWh/kg of PET waste. Given the vast amounts of plastic waste generated in the country, improvement in the collection and segregation stages could immensely contribute towards the twin problems of plastic WM and sustainable energy production. A leading example in this case is the MSW treatment facility located in North Goa where 100 percent segregation of wastes into wet and dry fractions is achieved with the dry fraction further separated into different components such as glass, metal, PET, e-waste etc. Electricity generation of 0.57 MW per 100 MT of biodegradable waste is achieved (HWT, 2019). Furthermore, operational Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) facilities also exist in Chandigarh, Telengana and Madhya Pradesh and have been set up in Madhya Pradesh and Telengana. Composting facilities have also been set up at Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Tripura and Uttarakhand (www.cpcb.nic.in). Fig. 2 further elucidates the bioenergy potential of the country owing to the vast amounts of agricultural wastes generated. Dhar et al., 2017 further estimated that of the total 568,040 MT/day animal based manures generated in the country, only 15% is utilised by the rural communities while the remaining has an energy potential of 709421 MW-hr/day. Food wastes offer another viable option for a bioeconomy as determined by Dung et al. (2014) in a study estimating the bioenergy production from food waste for 21 countries. The same study estimated the total food waste for India at 35,000,000 tonnes per year with a bioenergy potential of 29,868 GWh/year (bio-methane production) and 5,515 GWh/year (bio-hythane production) (Dung et al., 2014). Besides, the country also produces copious amounts of endocarp biomass (almond, apricot, coconut, mango etc) which can satisfy between 0.8 and 3.0 percent of its energy consumption (Mendu et al., 2012).

Power generation potential of 50,000 MW from 600 MT of annual agricultural waste generated (Mohan et al., 2018) Ghosh et al., 2016 estimated a revenue return of 622,624 rupees from C&D waste of five types following dismantling of a housing estate using LINGO-11.0 model Construction and Demolition Industry

Waste Management Sector of India

*TPD- tonnes per day, MT- million tonnes, TPA- tonnes per annum, MW- mega watts

Crop (rice, wheat) residues, saw mill waste, vegetable and floral waste, banana stalk, cotton stalk Building materials, rubble, wood, plastics, masonry waste, glass 2,775,851 Crore Agriculture and allied sectors

Automotive sector

2,818,219 Crore Mining sector contribution-410,151 Crore Steel Industry Aluminium Industry

Electronics Industry

Table 3 Waste and renewable energy sectors in India (www.mospi.gov.in; www.cpcb. nic.in).

Reuse of materials from demolition, deconstruction and renovation projects along-with recovery of recyclable materials using trash compactors, shredders, balers and crushers

Sorting, processing, shredding, melting in furnace followed by solidification as ingots

Wastes recycled into bricks and tiles, reuse of aluminium scrap, steel scrap and fuel Production of recycled raw materials for re-utilization within the electronic industry Upto 60,855 million savings through reduction in material input by adoption of resource efficient practices (NITI Aayog (www.niti.gov.ic)

Coal washeries waste, mining overburden waste, iron/aluminium tailings, lime sludge, lime stone waste, kiln dust Discarded electronic equipment, silicone residues, hazardous metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, non-hazardous metals like copper, aluminium, gold etc Machine lubricants, coolants, plastics, scrap metals, paints, hazardous cleaning chemicals

Collection and transportation, shredding and sorting, magnetic separation (iron and steel from waste), water separation technology (glass from plastics) Transportation, shredding, separation (magnetic, eddy current, laser and infrared systems) for procurement of raw metal feedstock for various industries Composting for biomass generation, biorefinery systems, biomethanation for biogas production

Conversion processes Prospects for transition towards circularity Waste Recycling Potential Type of wastes Contribution towards national GVA (2018–19) Key Sectors

Table 2 Infusion of circularity tenets within some key manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors influencing India’s economy and the available pathways for such transition (www.parivesh.nic.in ; www.rbidocs.rbi.org; www.wsds.teriin.org).

P. Priyadarshini and P.C. Abhilash

3.2.3. Conversion processes for sustainable WM and bioenergy production Data presented in Fig. 2 clearly indicates that the waste management industry offers significant advances to the overall sustainability of the country by providing employment, decreasing overall GHG emissions and boosting the economy by reducing reliance on imports (Mohan et al., 2018). The conversion of WtE can be achieved through 5

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Fig. 2. Statistics highlighting the scope of the waste and renewable energy sectors of India within CE. 2(A). State based plastic waste utilization (www.cpcb.nic.in); 2(B). Potential availability of agricultural biomass in India (www.apps.iasri.res.in); 2(C). Energy potential of various agricultural residues available in India (Dhar et al., 2017; Hiloidhari et al., 2014; Lethomaki, 2006); 2(D). Renewable energy potential in India (www.mospi.gov.in; www.cpcb.nic.in).

would have direct positive impact on the economy. Furthermore, model based scenarios suggest that approximately $697bn of Indian economy is at risk under a Business-as-Usual (BaU) scenario which could be reduced to $382billion under a technology improved and circular economy scenario involving resource efficient practices and closed value chains (www.ficcices.in; www.esds.teriin.org). Effective governance through sound policy frameworks can provide impetus towards a sustainable economy coherent with CE principles (Morseletto, 2020). Table 5 provides an overview of some such regulation existing in India and their linkage to SD Goals and Targets. In addition to the interventions mentioned in Table 5, the National Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007 and the PMAY, 2015 focus on the procurement of materials in a sustainable manner along with development of eco-friendly designs (NITI Aayog, GoI, 2017b). Translation of policy to practice is also visible in singular efforts such as the proposal to set up a methanol economy fund by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog for developing insights in the field of bioenergy (www.thehindubusinessline.com) as well as commissioning of the country’s largest waste to energy plant with a capacity to generate 24 MW of energy in 2017 (www.hindustantimes.com). Besides, the MOEFCC (www.parivesh.nic.in) has also proposed a draft National Resource Efficiency Policy, 2019 which provides an overview of resources present in India, material consumption across major industrial sectors and their role in influencing the country’s GDP as well as the need for an integrated resource management strategy (www.parivesh. nic.in). Additionally, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is considerably contributing towards the field of bioenergy through the development of lignocellulosic biomass based bio-refineries as well as setting up of three 2G ethanol plants (biofuel from agricultural wastes) in the states of Orissa (Bargarh), Madhya Pradesh (Bina) and Maharashtra (Khamgaon) (www.dbtindia.gov.in). The DBT is aptly supported by the MNRE which has autonomous institutions dedicated towards

the traditional processes on composting, bioethanol and waste incineration or through modern technological approaches like biomethanation, waste biorefinery and production of biohydrogen (Huang, 2015; Pasupuleti et al., 2014). Research dedicated to the implementation of these practices in India for a transition towards a bioeconomy based on waste can be elucidated from Table 4. The analysis in Table 4 clearly establishes that research in the field of waste conversions to energy have been going on in various parts of India, its integration however, with sustainable development, CE and policy structuring is lacking. The processing potential of composting plants in India is 2.37 MT per annum. However, only 0.33 MT of compost is produced annually as mixed waste feedstock is used for production resulting in poor product quality (www.think-asia.org). The installed biomethanation plants also suffer from poor segregation and produce bio-CNG, manure and electricity as the major products (www. think-asia.org; Brahma et al., 2016). Prabhu and Mutnuri (2016) estimated biomethane potential by carrying out anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with sludge and obtained a maximum biogas yield of 823 ml gVS-1 with 60% methane content. Besides, the anaerobic digestion of MSW offers considerable potential in the Indian scenario since organic wastes produced are mostly cellulosic and lingo-cellulosic in nature (Dhar et al., 2017). Therefore, the proper segregation, recognition of appropriate conversion process for WM based on the physico-chemical properties of waste and up-scaling of pilot projects would lead to the integration of WM with CE. 3.3. Linking sustainability and policy framing to CE India’s GDP has been directly correlated with the resource consumption which is in turn is positively proportional to population. This implies that the adoption of sustainability principles within business models and policy frameworks through resource efficient strategies 6

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Table 4 An indicative list of research dedicated towards various conversion processes for WM in India (2000–2020). Process for waste reduction

Examples of research undertaken

Composting/vermicomposting

Springer and Heldt (2016) Singh et al. (2013) Late and Mule (2014) Kalamdhad et al. (2009) Awasthi et al. (2014)

Bioethanol production

Pohit et al. (2011) Jahnavi et al. (2017)

Waste Valorisation

Ong et al. (2018) Matharu et al. (2016) Chakraborty and Mohan (2019) Athira et al. (2019)

Biomethanation

Kumar and Ting (2010) Saravanane et al. (2004) Brahma et al. (2016) Negi et al. (2018) Reddy (2014)

Biorefinery systems

Waste to Energy (WtE) conversion

Raman and Gnansaunou (2015) Banerjee et al. (2018) Golberg et al. 2014

Nixon et al. (2017)

Gupta et al. (2019) Dhar et al. (2017) Biohydrogen production

Nalvolthula et al. (2014) Prakash et al. (1998) Lee and Chiu (2012)

Bansal et al. (2013) Bio-Hythane production

Mishra et al. (2017) Pasupuleti and Mohan (2015) Meena et al. (2019) Kumar et al. (2019)

Broad aim/salient features of the study related to the concept of circular economy of 11 locally available co-substrates for composting organic waste. Estimation of structural • Evaluation strength and water holding capacity effect in composting waste management of temple floral offerings by vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida. • Solid composting of generated waste using a metallic container. Tries to address the problems • Aerobic associated with space requirement in composting rotary drum composting of vegetable waste and tree leaves. • Standardised • Evaluation of thermophilic fungal consortium for the composting of organic fraction of MSW. of the incentive structure for India’s biofuel program. Comprehends the positive and negative • Analysis aspects of the program overview of agro-residues in India with emphasis on pre-treatment and saccharification • Comprehensive techniques. Biofuel production from algae trends in food waste valorisation in various Asian economies including India. Legislative measures • Latest for food waste disposal have been explored food waste valorisation with respect to sustainability, SDGs and bioeconomy. Potential of food • Explores supply waste chains (FSCW) and biorefineries with case studies on potato waste and orange peel waste three stage integrated bioprocess for the efficient valorization by co-digestion of food and • Standardised vegetable waste. options for rice straw valorisation within energy and construction industries, availability of rice • Various straw in major rice producing states of India plants at three locations examined with respect to solid waste management • Biomethanation sustainability. Although an established technology, scaling up remains a hurdle of biogas generation by integrating sugar industry waste (pressmud) with municipal sewage • Examination using bio methanation process. generation potential estimation of a biomethantion plant using GIS by estimating locally available • Power biomass feedstocks. Biomass collection and transportation network was designed using GIS of MSW and rice straw was conducted for biogas and methane production. Co-digestion • Co-digestion enhanced the biomethanation potential. the different option for MSW waste to energy conversion in India. Of the 16 clean development • Explores waste to energy conversion projects in India. 11 are RDF and few biomethanation based of a biorefinery system from vetiver leaves. Comparison with conventional systems showed • LCA reduction in CO emissions by 95% in case of a bioethanol system of horticultural waste (mango peels) for pectin extraction using a biorefinery approach • Utilization metabolic and sustainability analysis for the optimization of a marine biorefinery. • Thermodynamic, Model combines sustainability and legislative factors and incorporates two step conversion of Ulva 2

•

feedstock to bioethanol Comparison of three WtE plants in India with two European plants to identify issues with WtE supply chains. Poor source segregation, contamination during transport and storage and low capitals identified as major issues Studied hydrothermal carbonization as pretreatment strategy for energy recovery from food and paper wastes Overall review of WtE potential, available technologies and associated challenges. Organic waste exhibits good potential with respect to sustainable energy production

• • production from phototropic bacteria isolated from an industrial area in Hyderabad under • Biohydrogen varying physico-chemical conditions of microbes found in wastewaters in biohydrogen and biomethane production • Potential based prediction of development of biohydrogen sector and its impact on the economic growth in • Model various developed and developing countries of the world indicated largest market in China followed by US, Japan and India • Results • Biohydrogen production through anaerobic digestion using vegetable waste under batch reactor systems of groundnut and mustard deoiled cake as well as distillery effluent and algal biomass for • Usage biohythane production • Development of biosystem for biohythane production from treated wastewater the challenges and perspectives of biohythane production from food processing wastes • Examined pilot scale study on bio-Hythane production from organic fraction of MSW waste by anaerobic • Adigestion processes (both single and double stage digestion).

As evident from Fig. 3, the CE policy in its approach and implementation would be closely aligned with the Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy (www.parivesh.nic.in) but can adopt a more inclusive approach in terms of indicator definition and progress monitoring. The policy could borrow significantly from the targets and indicators of SDGs particularly SDG target 8.4 concerned with economic decoupling as well as SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production) for indicator framing (www.niti.gov.in; www.mospi.gov.in). In keeping with the necessity of integration between policies for CE, the MNRE has also launched the National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy aiming the promotion

solar energy (for implementation of the International Solar Mission) and wind energy as well as the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for funding of energy efficient projects (www.mnre. gov.in). Therefore, the conceptualization of a separate CE policy (Fig. 3) for India through integration of the circularity features present within the existing policy frameworks (Table 5) and their alignment with the SDGs would essentially provide a pathway for closing open ended value chains existing in the manufacturing, APE and agriculture sectors as well as help in overcoming most of the drawbacks associated with the existing mechanisms. 7

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Table 5 Salient features of some key policy interventions in India related to circular economy principles and their linkages with the SDGs and its associated targets (www. parivesh.nic.in; www.mofpi.nic.in; www.mnre.gov.in; www.mines.gov.in; www.niti.gov.in). Policy Framework

Implementing Agency

Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2015

Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

Basic Features related to CE

Related SDGs and Targets

guidelines for the storage, treatment and disposal of • Provides hazardous wastes generated from petrochemical processes, crude oil production, industrial operations, hardening of steel etc.

step waste management approach includes prevention, • Six minimization, reuse, recycling, recovery and safe disposal in

6 • SDG 6.3, 6.a • Targets: 12 • SDG 12.4, • Targets: 12.5

hierarchical order.

Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016

Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

co-processing of waste as a preferred mechanism over • Incorporates disposal for energy recovery. Operating Procedures (SOPs) laid out for the • Standard environmentally sound management of waste. of hazardous waste from other countries permitted only for • Import recycle, recovery and reuse and not for disposal. of virgin plastic increased to 50 µm in order to facilitate 12 • Thickness • SDG recycling. Targets: 12.4, • 12.5 Panchayats held accountable for plastic waste management • Gram in rural areas. and use of multi-layered plastic which is non• Manufacture recyclable (with no alternate use) to be phased out in two years. waste unfit for further recycling to be used for road • Plastic construction, energy recovery or waste to oil generation. of the e-waste recycling sector by directing the e• Formalization waste generated in the country towards authorized dismantlers and recyclers.

to the manufacturer, producer, dealer, refurbisher, • Applicable collection centres, consumer, dismantler and recycler. to Electronic and Electric Equipment as well as their • Caters components, consumables, parts and spares along with CFL and mercury containing lamps

Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016

Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

Construction and Demolition waste Management Rules, 2016

Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change

National Solar Mission, 2010

Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

National Offshore Wind Energy Policy, 2015

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

National Policy on Biofuels, 2018

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

enterprises are exempted from the regulations. • Micro Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an important tool • Extended related to e-waste management. the duties of waste generators such as segregation of waste 11 • Outlines • SDG and its proper storage before handover to waste collectors. Target: 11.6 • the duties of various nodal ministries such as agriculture, 12 • Outlines • SDG power, chemicals and fertilizers and rural/urban development in Targets: 12.4, • waste management. 12.5 of concepts like ‘user fee’ and ‘spot fine’ from waste • Introduction generators. for recycling and production of Refuse Derived Fuel • Procedures (RDF) from wastes as also been described. generators generating more than 20 tons in one day shall 9 • Waste • SDG submit a waste management plan and segregate the waste into Target: 9.4 • different streams like concrete, soil, steel, wood and plastics, bricks 11 • SDG and mortar. Target: 11.6 • Authorities shall utilize construction and demolition waste 12 • Local • SDG for various purposes such as in non-structural concrete, paving Target: 12.5 • blocks, road pavements and rural roads. will grant authorization to construction and demolition waste • SPCB processing facility. under NAPCC, the mission aims to generate 7 • Launched • SDG 1,00,000 MW of electricity through solar power by 2022. Targets: 7.1, 7.2, • 7.3, 7.a, 7.b both centralised and de-centralised integration of solar • Involves technology through efficient policy framework. SDG 8 • planned under three phases comprising of deployment of Target: 8.4 • Mission • solar collectors, roof top installations and off-grid solar applications.

of Offshore wind farms in the Exclusive Economic • Development Zone (EEZ) of the country. investment in clean energy and enhanced involvement of • Promote the private sector in energy infrastructure. Institute of Wind Energy would be the nodal agency • National responsible for implementation of the policy objectives. of degraded and non-forest lands of the country for the • Utilization cultivation of non-edible oil seeds for the generation of biofuels. of biofuels as well as use of non-feed materials and • Categorization byproducts of other industries as raw materials in bio-ethanol production.

policy plans to integrate the blending of ethanol to 20% in • The petrol and biodiesel to 5% in diesel by 2030. on second generation (2G) ethanol technologies and fuels • Focus produced from MSW, industrial wastes and biomass targeting waste to energy conversion.

(continued on next page) 8

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Table 5 (continued) Policy Framework

Implementing Agency

National Mineral Policy, 2019

Ministry of Mines

Basic Features related to CE to ensure uniformity in mineral administration across the • Policy country. waste mining projected as the national goal. • Zero mining activities shall take place within a Sustainable • All Development Framework without detrimentally affecting the

Related SDGs and Targets 12 • SDG • Target: 12.2, 12.5

ecological environment.

Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters, 2017 (SAMPADA)

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI)

and afforestation should simultaneously accompany • Reclamation mineral extraction activities. of research and development for energy conservation and • Use environment protection in mining related activities. of efficient supply chain management from farm fields to 2 • Creation • SDG retails market Target: 2.3, 2.4 • ongoing under SAMPADA such as Mega Food Parks, 8 • Several • SDG Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure focus on Target: 8.4 • better infrastructure development, sustainable supply of raw 9 • SDG materials as well as proper preservation of post harvest produce in Target: 9.4 • order to reduce food losses 12 • SDG proposed schemes such as Creation/ Expansion of Food Target: 12.3, 12.5 • New • Processing and Preservation Capacities, Infrastructure for Agro Processing Clusters also aim towards reduction of food and other organic wastage by improving processing/ preservation units as well as integration of facilities along the entire agriculture value chain

Fig. 3. Proposed framework for a Circular Economy Policy for India. The guiding principles for the CE policy have been adapted from Corona et al. (2019) while the benefits of the proposed policy from NITI Aayog (www.niti.gov.in).

environmental impact (CII, 2019) and re-conceptualization of the ecolabelling scheme better suited to the CE principles (www.niti.gov.in) are some other reforms that could positively impact influx of circularity with waste management and energy sectors.

of technologies and frameworks involving combined wind-solar hybrid plants (MNRE, GoI, 2018a). Besides, co-ordinated working between the scientific community and the NITI Aayog could help restructure the material flow indicators for imports and exports in terms of Raw Material Equivalents (RME) instead of the existing Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) and Domestic Material Import (DMI) (www.niti. gov.in). Furthermore, the specific indicators related to waste recycling and energy recovery from waste could also be developed. Additionally, the training and capacity building of the informal sector in waste management (Awasthi and Li, 2017), promotion of pilot business models and local entrepreneurs’ with ideas of promoting CE (Mohan et al., 2018), procurement of goods by consumers based on their

4. Conclusion The negative repercussions of linear value chains are promoting transitions towards circularity. CE essentially targets increasing availability per unit of resource extracted through reutilization, waste minimization and RE production. The present analysis focused on assessing the role of research in CE in context of the waste management 9

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and energy sectors of India. Results revealed the need of better linkages between WtE conversion practices and CE. Besides, policy regulations for solid, plastic and e-waste suffer from inadequate implementation particularly at the processing and recycling stages. Framing of a CE policy for India would further enhance RE and boost attainment of the SDGs.

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