Conference: "Waste to resource: Addressing construction and demolition waste in cities"

Date: December 23, 2013

While construction necessitates enormous amount of construction material that accounts for about half of all materials used, it is also responsible for generating about half of the solid waste that degrades the land and environment. Given the fact that 70 per cent of the buildings that will stand in India in 2030 are yet to be built, this environmental cost will only compound with the anticipated construction boom unless immediate steps are taken to recycle and reuse construction waste and turn it  into a resource.

This message came out strongly and overarchingly at the daylong conference on “Waste to Resource” jointly organised by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) and Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi on December 23, 2013. This meeting brought together the key stakeholders and was attended by  Sunil Soni, Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS); V V Arora, Joint Director, National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCCBM); Vivek Pratap Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh; C Hari Kiran, Commissioner, Vijaywada Municipal Corporation; Pradeep Khandelwal, Chief Engineer, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, East Zone; J K Prasad, Chief - Building Materials, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council; N B Mazumdar, Chief Technical Advisor, IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd; Prof Sudhir Mishra, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur; Surya Kakani, Principal Architect, Surya Kakani Associates, Ahmedabad; Nitesh Kumar Goyal, Senior Scientist, Central Road Research Institute. Allahabad Nagar Nigam, Municipal Corporation of Delhi-South Zone, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Board, Central Institute of Scientific Research, IIT-Delhi, Delhi University were among the other government and educational institute in attendance along with members of industry and civil society  actively working in field of urbanisation and waste.

CSE released its research findings and called for expediting Indian Standard update to include recycled C&D waste so as to increase the uptake of the product and reduce the ecological impact of the waste and demand for naturally sourced building material. Further concerns about cost of products made from recycled waste was discussed and need to devise incentives to make these products commercially viable. Need was felt to amend existing Municipal Solid Waste Management Rule for effective handling and management of C&D waste. Capacity up scaling of urban local bodies to effectively address the issue and decentralisation of waste management was stressed upon.


For more details, please contact:

Avikal Somvanshi
Senior Research Associate
Sustainable Building Programme,
Centre for Science and Environment
Tel: +91-9871933410