Aligning Industries And Government Key For Circular Waste Management In India

(MENAFN- Live Mint)

Indian industries, the government, polluters and pollution management companies need to align in their thinking in order to make India's waste management circular, according to Girish Ramesh Luthra, chairman of the Luthra Group.

“This alignment is difficult because everyone has their own agenda. The government has to look into some policies that are more friendly towards green recycling and not on paper alone. There has to be will at all scales, right from municipalities, to industries to government in the state and Centre," said Luthra, speaking at the Mint Sustainability Summit 2025.

The reason that this is happening, according to Luthra is that tenders for solutions for waste management are often at the lowest levels, between L1 and L3. The problem compounds when there are no checks for whether the companies applying for these tenders have the capabilities or not.

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Shifting gears, the chairman of the waste management company said that ESG (environmental, social, and governance) requirements need to be enforced.“It's becoming just one more document to have in place, and not an actionable document. Companies and industry need to convert the document into reality."

India has at least 62 million small and medium enterprises, according to data released in May by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi).

While larger companies tend to follow through with their ESG compliance activities, MSMEs face a challenge because their focus is on their businesses and their outlook is small.“We need to cluster them into large think tanks to get results," said Luthra.

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But awareness about waste management and circulation of waste can't be restricted to just companies and MSMEs. People should know about sustainability much earlier in life, according to Luthra.“We are known for recycling but we have forgotten in our modernism, what is to be done. We should be telling the government to incorporate the subject right from the third and fourth grades. The contents are ready."

However, it's not that India is without successes in waste management and circulation. For example, hazardous materials have traditionally been incinerated worldwide. However, it is possible to find a different use for it.

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The Luthra Group, for intance, turns hazardous materials into fuel for cement companies.“In the last 15 years, we've begun recycling it as fuel to cement companies. Earlier we used to do 300 tonnes a month. Today, we do 1,500 tonnes a day. Similarly, earlier we were only able to recycle seven to eight different types of products and today we do around 1,800. All you need to do is look at waste differently."

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