Plastic Pollution and Circular Economy

This document discusses the concept of circular economy and its impact on plastic pollution. It explores the progress and challenges of circular economy in New Delhi, India, and provides examples of initiatives taken by the government and businesses to support its development. The document also highlights the opportunities and enabling factors for the growth of circular economy in the city.

Plastic pollution and Circular
economy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Define and discuss circular economy referring to the theories from which it emerged.........3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
State an example how circular economy is developing in the commonwealth city New Delhi,
India........................................................................................................................................5
Analyse the progress of the circular economy in the city New Delhi, India focusing on the
barriers enabling factors and opportunities for its growth......................................................7
Task 3 ..............................................................................................................................................8
Propose what companies (local and international) and local government can do to support the
development of circular economy in New Delhi, India.........................................................8
Task 4 ............................................................................................................................................10
Report for commonwealth Local government Ministers meeting on key and recommendations
for action...............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Over the past few years growing use of plastic and pollution caused by it has captured the
attention of people, environmentalist, business and government at all levels. Environmentalists
are moving shifting from linear economy to the circular economy which is based on regenerative
and restorative design. The concept of circular economy is based on the concept of increasing the
value of materials as long as possible so to make a flow materials in a closed loop rather than
being used once and then discarded (Robaina and et. al., 2020). Circular economy increases the
life cycle of a product and here in the context of plastic, circular economy aims to make increase
the value of plastic so that they do not end up in landfills, incinerations or in sea area. The prime
purpose of the report is to briefly explain the term circular economy, principles which gave rise
to circular economy in India, what were the challenges faced by India in adopting a circular
economy, what measured did it opted and what local government and companies are doing to
support the cause.
Task 1
Define and discuss circular economy referring to the theories from which it emerged
Circular economy is a modern method of linear economy which was ineffective and was
based on the method of take, make and dispose. Due to the inefficiency of this model, heavy
amount of plastic is occupying a space in oceans which is leading to the destruction of soils,
marine mammals, and creating a water pollution which is deteriorating to human health. Circular
economy is based on a concept of making an efficient use of products and materials as long as
possible, extracting the value until their end life and then in the last aims to recover and
regenerate so as to make a input those materials and products for further production. In order to
address and preserve the environment governments and businesses are taking necessary
measures to reduce the hazardous waste from the environment and contributing towards healthy
and sustainable environment (Luttenberger, 2020). Few measures are producing plastic from
plants rather than a fossil fuels, promoting recycling and reuse of products and materials,
adopting a regenerative method to eliminate the waste and increase their life cycle, encouraging
the use of plastic material which is compostable and using plastic as a input for another process.
There are few principles which gave rise to the circular economy and reducing plastic waste
from a community :

 Principle of Input : One of the significant principle of circular economy is the efficient
use of natural resources. Due to rapid increase in population the resources in the state of
depletion, circular economy aims to preserve and extend the life cycle of natural
resources by means of keeping resources under control and balance the material flow of
renewable energy sources (Adebiyi-Abiola and et. al., 2019). The prime purpose of
circular economy is to ensure that renewable materials, resource and non renewable raw
materials are available to each and every citizen with the continuous flow of materials
instead of accumulating them and which is achieved by efficient flow of resource
management. Principle of sustainable cycles : Principle of sustainable cycle aims to work towards the
proper and continuous functioning of production process by making a adequate amount
of resources available at each step. Circular economy focus on designing the production
process in such a way that initial stage of production makes an efficient use of resources,
reduce energy consumption, or reduce waste so that further process is not disturbed due
to the non availability of resources (Tessnow-von Wysocki and Le Billon, 2019). Reduce : Another principle of circular economy is to reduce the waste generation and
produce more from a finite resource materials. In order to achieve this goal, business are
moving towards the creative and innovative approach which served the needs and wants
of a community in a better way while having minimal impact over environment.
Adopting a use of biodegradable packaging materials, such as business are moving
towards the use of paper bags instead of plastic, or shifting towards technology so as to
produce better results. Reuse : Circular economy is designed with the purpose of reducing ecological impact
business have with their operational activities and amount of waste generation through
producing good and services in an efficient manner with the help of recyclable and
sustainable resources. In order to attain the objective of zero waste, reducing carbon
footprints or pollution it is necessary to go beyond the concept of linear economy which
is based on the concept of single use products that generates a huge amount of waste and
that too with a poor management of wastage (Abbott and Sumaila, 2019). Circular
economy work well with management of wastage by the concept of make-remake, use-
reuse. With the help of this, the life cycle of each material and products are extended with

the purpose of limiting the extraction of raw materials and contributing towards
generation of no waste. Refurbish : Another significant principle of circular economy is restoring the life of old
and discarded products so as make them available for the needs and wants of a target
market. This approach is used by innovative entrepreneurs who develops a unique idea
based on the challenges faced by the society in order to satisfy the needs and demands
(Narancic and O'Connor, 2019). Damaged components are replaced while making an
overall update within existing products and services, the new and update products look
like a brand new with additional value than before. Refurbishing the materials and
products help in prevention of resources from depletion, reduce in wastage, and carbon
footprints which contribute together towards overall green and sustainable development.
 Principal of output : Circular economy works on the another signifiant principle that is
producing a value driven products which is based on the sustainable inputs, effective
management of production process and producing a better result with the desired quality
and quantity so as to meet the demands of target market. This principle aims at producing
a optimum results from the finite available natural resources so as to eliminate wastage
from production process (Meherishi, Narayana and Ranjani, 2019). Circular economy
focus in putting right amount of materials into the production process so that the results
are free from any environmental threat, or excess use of water, energy or other resources,
which in turn leads towards the development of sustainability.
Task 2
State an example how circular economy is developing in the commonwealth city New Delhi,
India
Circular economy is a updated and modern approach towards the sustainability
development which is done by means of three “R”s that is reduce, recycle and reuse. It is an
economic model which aims to produce goods and services with restricted limit of generation
waste, consumption of natural resources and wastage of material inputs. Circular economy aims
at keep products, equipment and infrastructure for keeping in use for a longer duration so as to
extract more value from these and therefore contributing towards increasing the productivity and
efficiency of these resources (Windsor and et. al., 2019). Developing countries like, India are

facing a serious problems due to the consequences of highly growing population which are
scarcity of water and other natural resources, environmental pollution, climate change, infectious
disease, and political strife. Circular economy develops a innovative path which leads to the
efficient utilization of resources, reusing discarded materials, helps in eliminating the waste and
mitigating the deteriorating impact over environment. New Delhi, capital of India and an
administrative district of National capital territory (Changwichan and Gheewala, 2020). Emperor
George V laid the foundation of Delhi in the year, 1911 which is the seat of all three branches of
government of India, Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Supreme court of India. The
city has been a centre of various games including commonwealth games of 2010, and hosts
annually Delhi half Marathon foot-race. Apart from this, New Delhi have also hosted Asian
Games of 1951 and 1982. Asian countries are regarded as the highly populated countries, India is
one of those, due to high rise in population growth,urbanisation, growth in per capita resource
consumption, depletion of resources, and economic mobility have made the country to go for a
sustainable approach and contribute towards the efficient utilisation of resources along with
preserving it from depletion. There are numerous ways through which an circular economy is
developed in a capital city of India, which are mentioned below : Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources : India is taking a
initiative so as to promote marine mammals and conserve oceans through a clear agenda
which has been formulated by the government of India, Blue Revolution (Abad-Segura,
González-Zamar and Belmonte-Ureña, 2020). Increase in single use plastic have
contributed towards marine pollution due to which livelihood of fishing communities
were suffering and marine species were in the danger state of extinction. Integrated
National Fisheries Action Plan, 2016 aims at protecting the interest of the fishing
community along with reducing the marine pollution. Clean and Healthy India (Swachh Bharat - Swasth Bharat ) : An initiative from
central government which is aimed towards clean and healthy cities of India so as to
prevent the communities from a infectious disease. With the joint efforts of Clean India
Campaign and the National nutrition mission India have achieved 100% sanitation and
huge reduction in child and maternity rates. Apart from this, India is providing
Universal health protection schemes to its citizens with the initiative of Ayushmaan
Bharat which offers annual cover of USD 7000 million to over 100 million families.

 Sustainable Bharat (Satat Bharat - Sanatan Bharat) : With the help of this initiative,
India has been ranked third in renewable power, fourth in wind power and fifth in solar
power (Kümmerer, Clark and Zuin, 2020). India have managed to reduce 38 million
tonnes of CO2 emission annually through the use of energy efficient appliances.
Another targets set by Indian government with the help of this initiative is to install a
450GW renewable energy and restore 26 millions hectare of degradable land by
2030. Additionally India have managed to electrified 100% of its villages and provided
clean cooking fuel to 80 million poor households.
Analyse the progress of the circular economy in the city New Delhi, India focusing on the
barriers enabling factors and opportunities for its growth
Circular economy is contributing towards the reuse,recycle and repair economy which
aims to extract the maximum utility of products and materials. Below mentioned are the series of
challenges faced by Commonwealth city towards Sustainable development growth : Education : One of the significant enabling factor towards the circular economy is
Education. In a developing nations like India, there are distinct communities prevailing
different culture, language, different race and religion which pose a serious impact over
the implementation of business models (Kawashima, Yagi and Kojima, 2019). In the
initial stages, raising community awareness and education was the challenging task along
with the objectives and benefits derived from these approaches. Criticism and resistance
to change were few of the attributes which hinders the progress of sustainable
development programmes. Corporate social responsibility motivation : Another significant enabling factor in the
growth of SDG was the contribution towards the green environment by means of
corporate social responsivity. Medium and large enterprise were rigid in adopting to the
policies of corporate social responsibilities as compared to the new entrepreneurs and
small enterprises. One of the biggest reason behind their rigid behaviour by the cost
incurred and risk associated with the business models.
 Legislations by governments : Government's change in policies and norms have also
contributed equally towards the sluggish growth of sustainable development goals (Van
Fan and et. al., 2019). The policies were not too much attractive and beneficial that would
stimulates the giant business firm to go for sustainable approach in their business model.

Opportunities for circular economy in New Delhi, India. Cities and Construction : One of the greatest opportunity available to India is to create a
liveable city which matches the needs and demands of India's expanding population by
means of buildings and infrastructure. Through the “smart city mission” India aims to
provide a quality of life to all the citizens of India through investing in infrastructure
which matches the needs of citizens by providing water, sanitation, proper waste
management and planning of city spaces which provide a high quality of air quality,
lower congestion and urban stretch (Tam, Soulliere and Sawyer-Beaulieu, 2019).
 Food and agriculture : Another significant opportunity on which India is working is to
adopt a regenerative and restorative methods in a agriculture structure with aim to meet
the demands of second highly populated country. India's economy is largely based on
agriculture, and adoption of circular economy in agriculture sector will contribute largely
towards production of more outputs with decreasing need for resources such as water,
pesticides and fertilisers. Water is a growing concern in India due to the urbanisation and
excess use of water in farms and factories. India is heading towards the greenhouse
farming with the less amount of water and which requires stable temperature to be
maintained under covered shed.
Task 3
Propose what companies (local and international) and local government can do to support the
development of circular economy in New Delhi, India
Sustainable development is speeding up Asian countries like India where there is a need
to address the issues which are causing a great impact over environment. India is second largest
country in the world in terms of population, rising needs and demands of customer needs to
addressed in an efficient way so that natural resources are preserved and conserved for a future
generation. There are new start-ups which are coming with a new and innovative approach so
that demands at a larger scale are met with the finite resources (Saldarriaga-Hernandez, and et.
al., 2020). Apart from this, government is also taking an initiative through formulations of
policies and norms with an objective to promote plastic reduction and circular economy in a
country. Circular economy aims at eliminating the waste, reducing pollution, carbon footprints
and expanding the life cycle of a product and materials through, reusing, sharing, repairing,

refurbishments,recycling and re-manufacturing. There are numerous companies leading towards
the sustainable development goals by a series of action : Banyan Nation : Banyan Nation founded in the year 2013, is a India's first innovative,
technological driven plastic recycling and management company which aims to convert
the waste and solid plastic into a high quality recycled granules (Robaina and et. al.,
2020). The company is offering better sustainable solutions to the automotive
companies through making a new bumper from discarded one and cosmetic company
by making new plastic bottles from discarded one with the help of plastic cleaning
technology which removes inks, coatings and other contaminants using environment
friendly detergents and solutions. As per the recent report, Banyan Nation have
managed to reduced over 750 tonnes of carbon dioxide, recycled around 500 tonnes of
plastic and have directed over 1000 tonnes of plastic from landfills to regenerative
process which aims to make the discarded material input for the another process and
procedures.
 Waste Venture India : India has been addressing the problems of improper waste
managements which have lead to the increase in pollutant factors and have contributed
towards the sudden and unfavourable changes in an environment (Luttenberger, 2020).
Factories and large business dump the residues such as plastic, rubber cloth and other
hazardous material into a land fills, lakes, ponds, and rivers which make the water and
air more deteriorating than ever. The company is a social waste management enterprise
which handles the issues of solid waste generated by the households and businesses.
After collecting waste from households, business and waste picker, company produces
high quality organic compost through a fly-less, odourless and scientific techniques
called “Sanjeevini”.
Formation of Indian government policies supporting the development of circular economy
and plastic management. Minerals and mining development regulatory act (MMDR 2016) : The act was enacted
by an central government in order to develop and implementation of sustainable
development plans in this sector (Adebiyi-Abiola and et. al., 2019). With the help of this
policies, government have set out the instructions with regards to reduction of waste, use
of waste management practices, promotion of recycling materials, reducing the impact on

bio-diversity, flora and fauna, eradication of environmental impact on ground water, air,
noise and land.
 ZED certification scheme 2016 : Zero effect zero defect policy were enacted by a central
government in order to adopted by MSMEs manufacturing and service providers units
with the aim of producing the products with zero defect which contribute directly in
efficiently utilisation of resources, minimisation of waste and pollution. The objective of
the scheme is to eliminate the waste from production process and contribute towards the
development of sustainable approach (Tessnow-von Wysocki and Le Billon, 2019).
Task 4
Report for commonwealth Local government Ministers meeting on key and recommendations
for action
 The commonwealth youth leaders conference was held with the purpose of strengthening
the capacity, abilities and potential of a youth that would contribute to their overall
development and a community as a whole. It has been recommended to provide training
to the youth development workers and to help young, talented and skilled young to
receive education and training so that they can run their own business.
 India is a largest contributor to the commonwealth programmes and budgets, constituting
overall 60% of the total population of an association. The overall objective of a meting
was to focus on successful execution of event keeping in mind political, social, cultural,
civil, national or international which are beneficial for the country as whole (Abbott and
Sumaila, 2019).
 Another key recommendation was to opt for a effective media strategy for worldwide
coverage of an event that would help in depicting the positive image of country with
regards to overall economic development of a nation that will open a path for a country to
allow more countries to host events, games, conferences, meetings etc.
 The meeting covered provision of providing quality services to the customers along with
easy access of customer helpline numbers. Additionally the meeting address the issues
related with setting layout plans for the commercial use of new facilities after an event is
over with clearly stated purpose of public and private sectors.

 A significant key recommendation made by the local ministers at the meeting was to
develop a Event impact assessment plan that would help in identifying and measuring the
impact of the commonwealth games over distinct sectors of an society and what was its
commercial value in the global market (Narancic and O'Connor, 2019).
CONCLUSION
Furthermore, from the above stated report it has been concluded that circular economy is a
method or procedure which aims at regulating the materials and products in an economy until
their last use. The concept is a modernised approach which has been evolved from the traditional
one, liner economy which resulted to be inefficient in recycling the products. Linear economy
was based on the concept of take, make, dispose whereas circular economy is based on the
concept of make-remake, use-reuse, and recycle the materials so as to prevent resources from
being extinct, minimising the wastage, and eliminating the environmental impact.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Abad-Segura, E., González-Zamar, M.D. and Belmonte-Ureña, L.J., 2020. Effects of Circular
Economy Policies on the Environment and Sustainable Growth: Worldwide
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Abbott, J.K. and Sumaila, U.R., 2019. Reducing marine plastic pollution: policy insights from
economics. Review of environmental economics and policy. 13(2). pp.327-336.
Adebiyi-Abiola, B., and et. al., 2019. Cleaning up plastic pollution in Africa. Science. 365(6459.,
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Changwichan, K. and Gheewala, S.H., 2020. Choice of materials for takeaway beverage cups
towards a circular economy. Sustainable Production and Consumption. 22. pp.34-44.
Kawashima, N., Yagi, T. and Kojima, K., 2019. How Do Bioplastics and Fossil‐Based Plastics
Play in a Circular Economy?. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. 304(9).
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Kümmerer, K., Clark, J.H. and Zuin, V.G., 2020. Rethinking chemistry for a circular
economy. Science. 367(6476). pp.369-370.
Luttenberger, L.R., 2020. Waste management challenges in transition to circular economy–case
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Meherishi, L., Narayana, S.A. and Ranjani, K.S., 2019. Sustainable packaging for supply chain
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Narancic, T. and O'Connor, K.E., 2019. Plastic waste as a global challenge: are biodegradable
plastics the answer to the plastic waste problem?. Microbiology. 165(2). pp.129-137.
Robaina, M., and et. al., 2020. Circular economy in plastic waste-Efficiency analysis of
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Saldarriaga-Hernandez, S., and et. al., 2020. Bioremediation potential of Sargassum sp. biomass
to tackle pollution in coastal ecosystems: Circular economy approach. Science of The
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