Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt of India, Prof K. Vijay Raghavan and Director, IIT Delhi, Prof V. Ramgopal Rao signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 2nd May  in New Delhi for setting up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies for implementation of sustainable, scientific and technological solutions for waste management, through validation and deployment of available technologies for transformation of waste to wealth.

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have come together to bring the best of science and technology to implement waste management in India.

The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), which is an overarching body for assessment, creation and implementation of major scientific, technology and innovation interventions for India. The partnership will provide an effective platform for stakeholders to bring together integrated approaches for effective recycle, reuse and resource recovery of waste.

Speaking about the MoU with the Office of the PSA, Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, said thatwe have identified this as a focus area for the institute and many faculty members across the departments and centres at IIT Delhi are already working on a variety of projects related to waste management. “The Idea is to consolidate all possible Waste to Wealth Technologies, learn from the best practices followed worldwide, and implement them on the ground for Indian cities.”, said Prof Rao.

IIT Delhi is already closely involved with the waste management aspects of Delhi and many faculty members are closely involved with the Delhi administration in addressing the waste management issues.

The immediate objective is to implement technologies that are available with various national and international academia’s, industries, research laboratories and other agencies by way of setting up pilot projects on-site effectively and successfully, and demonstrating the proof of concept of the technology under Indian condition. This will be carried out by creating a strong collaborating network between IIT Delhi, and other national and international stakeholders through the aegis of the office of the PSA. The long-term goal is to create circular economic models for waste management, by leveraging big data analytics and frontier technologies to streamline waste in India. The overall outcomes would involve treating waste and generating different forms of energy, thereby making India a waste free nation, with zero greenhouse gas emission and no health hazard. Under the initiative, a waste to wealth programme management centre will also be set up at IIT Delhi.

The office of the PSA acts as a ‘think-tank’ and ‘action-tank’ for science, technology and innovation activities. The office plays a catalytic and synergistic role to strongly connect government ministry, academia and industry, to evolve relevant policies, make recommendations for the relevant scientific departments and ministries, and implement scientific interventions in various sectors of national priority.