Page 48 - IMDR JOURNAL- 2022

Circular economy is an economic system that strives towards zero waste and contamination at every stage of
the material lifecycle, from resource extraction through industrial transformation and on to ultimate
consumers, and that applies to all ecosystems involved.
Today, India stands at the verge of deep options and may go beyond the traditional 'take, manufacture, and
discard' approach. There are systemic decisions the country can make that will place it on a path toward
good, regenerative, and value-creating growth, given its young population and burgeoning industrial sector.
Implementing the Circular Economy, one that is

restorative and regenerative by design, might make more effective use of resources and energy in a digitally
empowered paradigm of development.

A circular economy cuts through this clutter. 'In nature, nothing is useless' — and this seemed to embody the
business itself. More landfills and damaged ecosystems are avoided by reducing the use of natural resources,
recycling, and upcycling products. Every object was perceived as having some use or worth, and even those
that some would deem 'useless,' it was assumed that someone else would find a use for it at some point in the
future. There was reality about the issue of trash – everyone knew that garbage was generated by people, by
our social and economic structures, and things didn't have to become superfluous. Connected to this was the
worldview of 'jugaad' or tinkering with things, meaning that people approach things with a flexible attitude
to their usage and are open to experimenting and discovering work-arounds. It makes companies more
productive – the World Economic Forum predicts a global circular economy may deliver material cost
reductions of one trillion dollars annually by 2025, recycled e-waste alone generating over $62.5 billion.
Circular methods for cement, aluminum, steel, plastics, and food may reduce 45 percent of the pollutants
now heating the Earth, which would have enormous environmental benefits.
Reuse economies, such as those seen in India and other nations in the Global South, are an inspiration to the
West, particularly the United States. The so-called developed world has lives founded on disposability.
People create substantially more garbage per capita than India does, even though recycling is limited and
there is no opportunity for reusing or repairing items.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY AN INDIAN INITIATIVE
The step to making 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' is sustainable growth. We urgently want a development paradigm
that maximises resource efficiency. India must evolve towards a circular economy with a growing
population, fast urbanisation, climate change, and environmental degradation.

An economical method aiming to avoid waste and the continuing use of resources, circular economy
presents a new paradigm that stresses the need to take a holistic perspective of goods and processes. Circular
economy ideas must be incorporated into our manufacturing processes to reduce our reliance on natural
resources and improve our competitiveness.
India's adoption of a circular economy route may have a snowball effect on the economy, resulting in
substantial yearly benefits and significant reductions in congestion and pollution.

We will accelerate our move toward self-sufficiency if we can improve our resource efficiency, reduce our
dependency on scarce resources, and encourage the formation of new business models and entrepreneurial
enterprises.
This system occurs in cultures which have live traditions; the human population therein understood its
boundaries. It recognised that critical resources — clean water, air, food, and energy — needed for a living
are few. As a result, these civilizations made wise use of them. Consequently, farmers would cycle crops in
agriculture, and city residents would store rainfall, etc.

Industrialisation brought a fracture – a perception emerged that you have boundless resources due to

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