Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said in Jammu today that ‘Garbage to Riches’ is emerging as a new avenue for StartUps in India. The minister was addressing a national seminar on ‘Waste to Wealth’ organized under the ‘Ek Kaam Desh ke Naam’ programme, where industry leaders from across India, from Kerala to Haryana and Gujarat to Odisha, were felicitated for excelling in using latest technologies. for turning waste into wealth to create business, livelihoods and new opportunities for start-ups. The organizing team was led by Delhi BJP Vice President Rajiv Babbar, a group of former senior bureaucrats, scholars and activists.
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Amrit Kaal, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in the next 25 years, there will be a surge in India’s economy through the use of resources that either remained unexplored in the past or could not be tapped because of it. lack of technology for the reuse of waste products. Referring to Prime Minister Modi’s call for ‘Swachhta’ in his Independence Day speech as well as Modi’s leadership role in all international movements related to climate issues, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the waste to wealth methodology serves a dual purpose beyond keeping the environment clean , but also creating wealth from elements that otherwise pollute the environment.
He made an interesting revelation during the Swachhata campaign held in October last year in commemoration of Gandhi Jayanti, the cleaning of Government of India offices in New Delhi and the subsequent disposal of e-waste from discarded mobile phones, computers etc. generated revenue of over Rs.62 crores when he was put on the market. Dr Jitendra Singh said that there is a need to create awareness about several waste products that can generate income without much effort and in this regard he pointed to the use of cooking oil from the kitchen which could be sold at around Rs.20. per liter industry that had the technology to turn it into an alternative fuel. Similarly, he talked about fly ash produced by burning coal, which could be used to make bricks for construction, etc. All this, he said, represented new sources of livelihood, simply by making optimal use of waste products. Jitendra Singh emphasized the close integration of industry with scientific research to ensure sustainable start-ups. He appreciated the efforts made in this program today which was attended by industry representatives as well as senior scientists from CSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology as well as young students and potential StratUps.
