Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav today addressed the Circular Economy Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi. He highlighted India’s efforts to translate policy intent into meaningful action through clear policies, regulatory reforms, digital compliance systems and a whole-of-government approach to advance the circular economy.
In his address, Shri Yadav said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Union Government had progressively strengthened the legal framework governing waste management by introducing sector-specific rules for nine waste streams: plastic waste, battery waste, e-waste, waste tyres, used oil, end-of-life vehicles, construction and demolition waste, non-ferrous scrap metal and solid waste. These rules focused on waste prevention, recycling, reuse, remanufacturing and resource recovery across the product lifecycle. The Minister also highlighted that as on date, nearly 499.60 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been processed across regulated waste streams, with more than 86,043 producers and 4,880 recyclers registered under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) frameworks.
Highlighting the role of EPR, the Minister said that the framework requires producers, importers and brand owners to ensure environmentally sound management of products at the end of their life. The transfer of EPR certificates provided financial incentives to recyclers, encouraging capacity expansion, technological advancement and increased recycling, while contributing to job creation and livelihoods across the recycling value chain. Shri Yadav emphasised that regulation alone could not create a circular economy and highlighted the importance of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative, which calls for mindful and deliberate resource utilisation instead of destructive consumption.
On Industry concerns regarding digital compliance, EPR market operations and transaction timelines, Shri Yadav invited stakeholders to continue sharing practical problems and suggestions. He said the Government is working on a market-based approach and urged industry representatives to engage openly to resolve outstanding issues. On plastic waste management, the Minister called for greater coordination between producers and recyclers to address concerns over the availability of recyclable material and recycling capacity. He said the objective went beyond issuing certificates to creating jobs, strengthening local industry capacity, promoting knowledge-sharing and advancing technology.
While talking about Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, Shri Yadav stressed the need for technology adoption, capacity building, online monitoring, stronger accountability and financial sustainability of urban local bodies. The Minister also highlighted the importance of four-stream segregation of solid waste – wet, dry, sanitary and special-care waste – and public participation. Shri Yadav concluded by emphasising that effective implementation of the SWM Rules would help control legacy waste and strengthen urban systems. He called for coordinated efforts by the government, industry and urban local bodies to advance the circular economy. He further called for stronger recovery of critical minerals from e-waste and batteries, and greater industry participation in developing secondary raw-material markets and strengthening supply-chain traceability.
Reading the circular-economy update
The discussion connects producer responsibility with the practical work of collecting, sorting and recovering materials. For a reader preparing environment notes, the useful distinction is between the rules that assign responsibility and the systems that make recovery possible. Registration figures describe participation in the framework; the processing figure describes the amount of material handled. These measures answer different questions and should be recorded separately.
The local-body discussion adds an implementation perspective. Waste segregation, monitoring, accountability and municipal finances sit alongside the responsibilities of producers and recyclers. A useful revision outline therefore has three parts: product responsibility, recovery capacity and local waste management. The call for coordination links these parts together. The LiFE reference adds the role of everyday resource use, while the discussion of batteries and e-waste connects waste management with recovery of useful materials. Keeping these relationships together makes the update easier to understand than memorising registration figures alone.