Importance of Waste Management: Do you know the 3R principle?
Recently during an event, Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “India has been a key player in promoting the efficient waste management system in the world.”
The Minister added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a crucial role in bringing waste management and material cycles to the international platform.
Dr. Harshvardhan was at the inauguration of 4th 3R International Scientific Conference on Material Cycles and Waste Management. According to him, now India need a directional change and positive approach for making a bigger impact.
Notably, the three –day conference is organised by the CSIR- Indian Institute of Petroleum. It will be attended by the delegates all across the world, including Japan, Korea and Germany.
The conference laid emphasis on the techniques of the waste management. And the effective waste management
techniques are as follows:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
This is also known as (3R) Principle.
Chemical and Fertilizers Minister Anant Kumar was also present at the event. He pointed out that about 4,500 urban areas in the country generate 55 million ton of waste every year out which only one million ton is converted into compost which ideally should be 5.5 million tonnes yearly.
He also added that the Modi government was giving subsidy for making compost from waste and a 50 kg bag of compost would cost only Rs. 75 for farmers.
He talked about few more major concerns.
- He talked about plastic waste and food packaging.
- Most of the hazardous waste is generated by the pharmaceutical and food packaging.
- He informed that 12 million tonnes of plastic can be reused recycled.
The Minister even suggested to include Reduce, Recycle and Reuse in the syllabus of schools at primary and secondary in order to spread awareness.
He announced that his Ministry was ready to ink a MoU with CSIR for setting up a task force for promoting 3Rs. He appealed to use ‘2R (Reuse, Recycle)’ material instead of ‘waste material’. Mr. Kumar said that a Guwahati-based unit was treating two tonnes of plastic waste daily and the plan was to set up 100 such units across the country to give a push to 3R projects. “As plastics are everywhere from automobiles to hospitals and it is not biodegradable, it is a big challenge to contain this menace,’’ he said.
