Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav today said that the Government has progressively strengthened the legal framework governing waste management by introducing sector-specific rules for nine waste streams. He said that these streams include plastic waste, battery waste, e-waste, and others.

 

Addressing the Circular Economy Conference in New Delhi, the Minister said that these rules are focused on waste prevention, recycling, reuse, remanufacturing and resource recovery across the product lifecycle. He highlighted that as on date, around 500 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been processed across regulated waste streams.

 

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 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.