Environment and Disaster Management › Waste and circular economy
हिन्दी — Read in HindiCircular economy and resource efficiency
The circular economy as policy and practice: repair and reuse, scrappage, recycled materials, industrial residues put to use, and the forums where countries compare notes. Prelims has asked about the uses of steel slag and what a circular economy reduces.
Foundation note: Circular economy: the principles and India's instruments
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World Circular Economy Forum
Copy link to World Circular Economy ForumPrelims and Mains
The World Circular Economy Forum is a meeting on the circular economy, organised by the Central Pollution Control Board with Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund.
- India launched the Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC) during its Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency.
- It co-chairs the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP), the international machinery behind Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 on sustainable consumption and production.
- India's circular economy could be worth over 2 trillion US dollars by 2050.
What changed
13 Sep 2026
- India will host the World Circular Economy Forum at Gandhinagar, the first time it has met in South Asia.
Industrial residues in roads
Copy link to Industrial residues in roadsPrelims and Mains
Steel slag is a residue a steelworks produces whether anyone wants it or not, and processed into the shape and strength of stone aggregate it can replace the quarried stone that road building consumes by the tonne.
- The technology comes from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI).
- Steel slag also goes into road bases, soil improvement and cement production.
What changed
12 Sep 2026
- A road laid with processed steel slag aggregate at Raigarh was recognised by Guinness World Records.
- CSIR-CRRI puts such a road at about 40 per cent cheaper to build and four times as strong as a conventional one.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2020: uses of steel slag
Fly ash by rail
Copy link to Fly ash by railPrelims
Fly ash, a by product of thermal power, is both a waste needing safe management and a resource for roads, bricks and cement.
- Roads and cement take nearly three fifths of the fly ash that is used, and both need it moved from the power plant to the site.
What changed
19 Jun 2026BriefThe Railways plan a dedicated logistics network with special containers moving between trains and road trailers to carry the nearly 340 million tonnes of fly ash produced each year, against about 13 million tonnes moved now. The Indian Express, 19 Jun 2026: Why Indian Railways is creating a new network for 340 million tonnes of fly ash (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- GOBARdhan · on Hydrogen and bioenergy
GOBARdhan, Galvanizing Organic Bio Agro Resources Dhan, began in 2018 under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) as a programme for turning cattle dung and farm waste into biogas and manure, and supply was first sought through SATAT, Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation, the 2018 scheme under which oil companies buy compressed biogas from private plants, which left more than 200 plants running.