Sustainability Outlook Headlines

As Global Market for E-Waste Management Booms, Expansion of Domestic Electronics Sector Drives Asia Pacific Growth

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recyclers represent a booming opportunity worldwide. Tons of e-waste is being generated as the life cycle of computers, printers, television, mobile phones, music systems, refrigerators and others have declined sharply in the past few years. Meanwhile, constant upgrades are increasing the volume of discarded mobile phones, spurring the need for safe disposal of such waste.

E-waste Management Market to 2020
Increasing market penetration of electrical and electronics goods... Read more..

Indian Farmers Turn To Tech To Cultivate Sustainability

Around 65 percent of India’s working population are farmers.

They live in harsh environments with daily challenges — a crop failure or animal illness away from catastrophe. Many of their problems are well understood with known solutions. However, farmers in rural India rely on community meetings and extension workers for agricultural and animal husbandry information — a slow, labor-intensive way of disseminating information.

Why are my mustard plants not flowering? Why did my palm oil crop fail? Why did my cow stop giving milk? What type of fish can I sustainably farm?

Central Pollution Control Board unveils plans to reduce pollution levels

The  Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has given Noida Authority the responsibility to implement a proper municipal solid waste management system in a time-bound manner as a priority measure to reduce pollution levels in the city.

Through an action plan devised by it, the CPCB has also expressed the need for Noida-based industries to switch over to cleaner fuels like CNG to reduce environmental pollution in the city.

The action plan, devised after consultations with various stakeholders including the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and the UP State... Read more..

Soon, subsidy for solar power generators for homes

An easy option to escape from hackles of rising power bills is in the offing. The Union government will provide 30% subsidy for installing home solar power generation systems.

The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will be soon ready with a new national scheme that will allow house or flat owners to install solar panels on rooftops.

This system will help them feed the power directly into the grid and keep bulky batteries at bay.

The new system envisages a metering system where in a household will get the power bill depending on the difference between... Read more..

Clean it like Pune

Pune, the second-largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai, offers a shining example of what a city can do to manage the growing menace of garbage as it urbanises at a rapid pace. Widely known as the cultural capital of Maharashtra, Pune is also called Oxford of the East because of its many fine educational institutions, attracting migrants and students from all over India and abroad. The city has always been an important commercial centre of Maharashtra, but the rapid growth of industry in the Pune district, particularly the concentration of IT companies and of automotives and auto-... Read more..

Leaking India nuclear plant under investigation

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is inspecting an Indian nuclear plant after several radiation leaks at the facility.

Earlier this year, dozens of workers at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station received dangerous doses of radiation as a result of two separate leaks.

The power station supplies energy to a large section of northern India.

The Indian government has invited a team from the international nuclear watchdog to conduct a safety inspection of the plant.

The IAEA said it was the first time New Delhi had issued such an invitation to the Vienna-... Read more..

Why companies' top struggles lie in sustainable supply chains

Despite a number of recent government-led and industry-specific initiatives to simplify the process, companies are still struggling to get a grip on their supply chains, according to a recent report by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a non-profit that promotes sustainability in business. The report, called the BSR/Globescan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2012, found that the top sustainability challenge for companies was achieving solutions throughout the supply chain.

Nearly 42 percent of the more than 550 professionals polled said ensuring their suppliers followed... Read more..

Conserve & Grow: The challenge is to think fresh

Environment and the idea of environmentalism - both face serious challenges in India today. The demands of a surging economy require natural resources to be used and exploited at an unprecedented rate. In a populous and poor country, these new demands on resources - land, water and what lies underneath - have aggravated the contests between different stakeholders. Villagers who want to hold on to their lands and water sources are pitted against industries that require raw material. Many of these contests are taking a violent turn. Expanding cities are eating into agrarian land. Industrial... Read more..

Solar product makers shine bright in Noida

It would not be wrong to say that the most number of awareness drives which have happened in India in the last decade would have been related to saving the environment.

From NGOs to media houses to big corporate houses to village schools, almost all institutions have conducted several awareness drives to educate people on how to reduce the carbon footprint. One method highly recommended to achieve this is by lowering the reliance on non-renewable energy and replacing them with renewable alternatives.

This, coupled with erratic power supply across India, has led people to opt... Read more..

French company wins bid to rid Delhi of its water woes

The Delhi Jal Board on Friday approved privatisation of its water distribution network.

The world's leading operator in water services - Veolia Water of France won the bid to revamp the existing water supply, transmission and distribution network of Nangloi water treatment plant at a cost of Rs 652.32 crore for 15 years.

"Revamping the supply network will be a challenge for the French company as distribution lines don't exist in the... Read more..

India wakes up to nuclear energy

Countries, including India, are pooling resources to build a plant that runs on cleaner technology and abundant resources

In the 1940s, attempts by the UK and the US to build the hydrogen bomb had a few useful byproducts, such as technologies that were able to use the power of the atom to generate electricity. The process of nuclear fission, which produces dangerous waste, was developed, and has been used since then to produce power the world over. Sadly, the other technological byproduct of the hydrogen bomb - nuclear fusion, which uses abundantly available fuel sources and emits... Read more..

India's grid expansion erodes island solar scheme

Eight years ago, Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal was a shining example of India’s efforts to power remote, impoverished areas with solar energy. But a government decision to hook up the island with the electric grid has left the solar scheme in tatters.

Between 2000 and 2004, a range of solar power systems - including household photovoltaic panels, home and street lighting, and mini grids - were installed on Sagar with large state subsidies. The government also helped cover generation and distribution expenses, at a cost of around $2.5 million.

Sagar, located in West Bengal... Read more..