Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products and avoid disposal if possible. Considered as one of the pillars for decarbonization, circular economic principles can be applied to trash that we generate in our daily lives. The shift to a circular economy requires a systems approach to analyze the life cycle of the waste stream, identify the points where interception methods are optimal (particularly for resource constrained communities) and prepare potential new business development opportunities that ultimately reduce and remove trash from going into our landfills, waterways, and oceans.

The concepts of circular economy have been relatively well established over the past decade; however, specific challenges exist in its implementation. This workshop focussed on two primary aspects: waste collection as a labour− intensive process from non−point and point sources that require adequate planning for frequency of collection; and waste processing technologies that create a sustained source of revenue to maintain any new infrastructure installation. Techno economic feasibility of materials circularity and new business development opportunities need to be evaluated in tandem to provide an informed decision−making framework for low capacity communities. The discussions were focussed on addressing these challenges through innovations in human− technology frontier for installation and monitoring of waste through interception technology, integrated data analytics and visualization, and integrated process systems analysis to evaluate sustainability of new infrastructure investments.

Being a responsible Chamber of Commerce, our aim is to provide value added services to our members and stakeholders to up skill their knowledge about Circular Economy where the target audience were the businesses who are engaged in waste management, including large industries and MSMEs, entrepreneurs, technology developers, start-ups, consultants, and non-profit organizations in the waste valorization sector. In this context, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and TEXAS A & M University, organized a full day Workshop on “Circular Economy- Principles, Processes, Challenges and Case Studies” on 2nd June 2023 in The Bengal Chamber premises.

It was a 7 hours session, conducted by Dr. Debalina Sengupta, Coastal Resilience Program Director, Texas Sea Grant at Texas    A&M University and Ms. Vipasha Majithia, Founder, VIA Energicals.

There was participation of 17 representatives from the organization like− CESC Limited, Exide Industries Limited, TATA Consultancy Services Limited, NTPC Limited, Shyam Sel & Power Ltd, Jamuria, Haldia Water Services Private Limited, TATA Steel Limited, Indorama India Private Limited, Kheti Samajh, Eelab Agro Private Limited, Greenlife IQ ponics and Autonome Technology Solutions.