Transition Towards a Circular Economy

1. Transition Transition Towards Towards a a Circular Economy Economy Circular Context: Context: • In the Budget speech this year, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, emphasized the role of cleaner technologies such as solar energy and batteries in India’s future economic growth. • In addition, she mentioned the importance of transitioning to a circular economy from the existing linear one. What What is is Circular Circular Economy? Economy? • A circular economy is a systemic approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society, and the environment. • In contrast to the ‘take-make-waste’ linear model, a circular economy is regenerative by design and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources. • A circular economy is “a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible”. Why Why the the focus focus now? now? • As the world is transitioning towards a sustainable energy future, there are challenges associated with it. • With huge renewable energy products such as solar plants, there is also challenge of managing the waste generated by it. • According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) — an intergovernmental organization that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future — the cumulative waste generated by India’s total installed solar capacity could be as high as 325 kilotons by 2030. • There is going to be a huge market for the battery recycling industry as well. • So a robust renewables waste management and recycling ecosystem will help in mitigating the environmental harms. • Apart from this it will help in creating new jobs and will also be economically beneficial.

2. Need Need for for Regulation: Regulation: • The governments must revamp the existing policies related to waste management and include policies to bring clean energy components under their ambit. • The rules should specify the responsibilities of the producer in managing the waste. • And the renewable energy ecosystem has various stakeholders including the importers, distributors, manufactures, etc. • So, the policies must clearly specify the responsibilities. Environmental Environmental Challenges: Challenges: • With the absence of any regulation landfilling is the most common way of managing the renewable energy waste but it comes at a cost. • The waste elements is dumped in the open and causing these elements to leach into the food chain. • Experts are of the opinion that leaching of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium from solar photovoltaic modules could increase substantially. Need Need for for R&D: R&D: • The renewable energy industry should invest in the research and development of recycling technologies. • Recycling is a multistep process that includes dismantling, disassembly, and extraction. • Dismantling is largely a manual process that is sometimes automated. • Disassembly can be done mechanically, thermally or chemically. Besides these traditional methods, investments in research and development could help discover new ways of recycling that result in higher efficiency and a less environmentally damaging footprint.