Follow Us
The circular economy is emerging as an industrial and investment strategy rather than simply a way of dealing with waste, with product design, recycled raw materials, new financing mechanisms and cross-border trade emerging as key areas for action.
The message emerged from the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2026, which concluded in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Over two days, policymakers, businesses, investors and experts discussed ways to turn circularity into commercially viable solutions and resilient supply chains. For the next two days, the discussions will now move into accelerator sessions aimed at translating them into sector-specific action.
One of the significant shifts highlighted at the forum was the need to address circularity at the beginning of a product’s life rather than after it becomes waste.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) chairman Amardeep Garg said the discussions had brought together the financial, technological, social and economic dimensions of the transition. Finance, digital technologies, skills, entrepreneurship and partnerships across value chains would be critical to scaling solutions, he said.
For businesses, the transition could open up markets around materials that are currently treated as waste. It also comes as industries face increasing pressure over access to resources and critical raw materials.
Gujarat Chief Secretary M. K. Das called for a common international certification system for secondary raw materials to facilitate cross-border trade. He also called for wider sharing of advanced recycling and clean technologies with developing countries.
Finland’s Minister for Climate and Environment Sari Multala said the focus now needed to shift from ideas to investment, pilots to markets and policies to implementation. She said Finland has decided to invest 120 million euros in New Finland International Finance Corporation. The fund will support areas including critical mineral value chains, digital infrastructure, municipal infrastructure and energy networks and storage.
The implications extend beyond recycling. This called for manufacturers to be held accountable for designing products that last longer and can be recycled, bringing extended producer responsibility into the wider industrial conversation.
At the state level, Gujarat is seeking to build on existing resource-reuse initiatives. This pointed to the state’s network of common effluent treatment plants and efforts towards reuse of treated wastewater as examples of circularity being integrated into industrial activity.
Gujarat Environment Minister of State for Forests, Environment and Climate Change Pravin Mali said India’s Waste-to-Energy Policy of 2022 had created a foundation for converting waste into renewable energy, while emphasising that global challenges ultimately require solutions at the local level.
TOPICSeconomic growthThis article was first uploaded on September sixteen, twenty twenty-six, at thirty-seven minutes past seven in the evening. © IE Online Media Services (P) Ltd