Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change sets five priorities to scale circularity: affordable finance, stronger EPR implementation, shared infrastructure, promotion of industry best practices, and demand creation through public procurement

Shri Bhupender Yadav, Hon’ble Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

New Delhi, 22 October 2026: “Circularity begins with the way we consume; It is increasingly evolving into a whole-of-lifecycle approach, changing how resources are consumed, recovered, reused, and re-integrated into the economy,” said Shri Bhupender Yadav, Hon’ble Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, at the third CII Circular Economy Conference.

“The next phase of the circular economy must focus not merely on increasing recycling volumes, but on ensuring high-quality, traceable and environmentally sound recycling that is economically viable,” he advised. Addressing industry concerns about the need for high-quality recycling and the need for stronger markets for recovered materials, the Minister outlined five priorities for the next phase of implementation:

Strengthening access to affordable finance through measures such as concessional loans, credit guarantees and capital subsidies

Improving transparency, verification and accountability in EPR certificate generation and transactions

Developing shared recycling infrastructure, including common facilities for sorting and testing

Promoting industry best practices including source aggregation, buy-back systems and partnerships with urban local bodies and informal waste collectors

Creating assured markets for recovered materials by incorporating circularity into public procurement policies.

The Minister highlighted “The EPR mechanism creates financial incentives for recyclers, supporting capacity expansion, technological advancement and employment across the recycling value chain. As we strengthen the digital compliance ecosystem for different waste streams, integration and interoperability across EPR portals are important priorities. We aim to work with industry to address practical challenges and improve the system.” He shared that the Government aims to come up with a fully functional integrated EPR platform by April 2027 which will help industry overcome these challenges.

Talking about the role of industry in advancing circularity, Ms Anjali Singh, Chair, CII National Circular Economy Council, and Executive Chairperson, Anand Group emphasized, “Industry must look beyond end-of-life management obligations and embrace the spirit of EPR by integrating circularity into upstream decisions, particularly product and packaging design, material selection and traceability. CII is committed to working closely with government, industry and other stakeholders to translate India’s circular economy ambitions into practical action across sectors and value chains.” 

Mr Masood Mallick, Chair, CII Waste to Worth Technologies and Managing Director, Re Sustainability, summarised key takeaways from the Minister’s address and said, “an open, market-based approach, supported by industry-to-industry dialogue and collaboration, is essential to advancing the circular economy.”

The third CII Circular Economy Conference, themed “Mainstreaming Circular Economy” brought together industry leaders, policy makers, and practitioners to deliberate on the cross-cutting aspects of circular economy such as metrics, reverse logistics, standards and new business models and explore what it takes to mainstream circularity across industry sectors and value chains.

For further information on the Summit agenda and key speakers, please visit: 

https://events.mycii.in/ciicirculareconomyconference2026/