We need a complete ecosystem on waste management: MD, Fortum India

"By 2024-25, waste management will come into mainstream. The time has come from waste to different products. Industry need to put funding," said Sanjay Aggarwal, Managing Director of Fortum India.

Managing Director of Fortum India, Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal has said that India needs a complete ecosystem on waste management wherein industries, research institutions, the public sector, consumers and all the other stakeholders work in synergy. He was addressing the experts of various disciplinary and professional background including corporate representatives as 'keynote speaker' in 2-days Waste Management Series of Summits (WMSS 2020) on Thursday, January 30.

"Waste management is a huge area. One industry or one company cannot do everything in waste management. You need to have a complete ecosystem wherein many industries and companies will be able to tackle the case. Everybody will have to take responsibility," said Aggarwal. He also highlighted the need for synergy between various stakeholders such as research institutions, universities, the public sector, and consumers. He also heightened the huge investment and job opportunities in the waste management sector for which India needs to prepare. "By 2024-25, waste management will come into the mainstream. The time has come from waste to different products. The industry needs to put funding," he added, highlighting the scope of waste to wealth in the ensuing decade.

He also informed that Fortum India's Rs 2,000 crore project in Assam which would use bamboo biomass to make ethanol to be used as biofuel. The byproducts of the plant will be used to make fabric for the textile industry and chemicals such as Acetic Acid would be utilized in cosmetics. "The plant will use about 500 thousand tonnes of bamboo to produce 300 thousand tonnes of biomass per year. Besides direct benefits to 10,000 farmers' families, the project will also create a huge amount of additional jobs for youths in the region," he added. Fortum India is also working on converting paddy waste into ethanol and fabric in collaboration with Haryana Agriculture University. "Experiments are very encouraging at the laboratory level. We will soon go into commercial production," informed Aggarwal. It's pertinent to mention that paddy residue burning in Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab has been a major source of air pollution.

For more news and views on waste management, please visit Live Discourse on Waste Management Series of Summits (WMSS 2020) being organized by Indus Exposium on 30th - 31st January 2020 in New Delhi.