On World Environment Day, Puneet Anand, AVP & Vertical Head - Corporate Affairs, Corporate Communication & Social of Hyundai Motor India Ltd highlights the importance of embracing circular economy models, innovative recycling, and public-private partnerships to transform waste into resources.
05 Jun 2025 | 573 Views | By Puneet Anand, Hyundai Motor India Ltd
The ever-expanding sprawl of a bustling metropolis, the hum of industry, and the relentless march of progress, all leave in their wake an undeniable footprint - Waste. Among the myriad challenges this presents, plastic pollution has emerged as a particularly formidable adversary, choking landfills, polluting oceans, and threatening our ecosystem.
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
The ever-expanding sprawl of a bustling metropolis, the hum of industry, and the relentless march of progress, all leave in their wake an undeniable footprint - Waste. Among the myriad challenges this presents, plastic pollution has emerged as a particularly formidable adversary, choking landfills, polluting oceans, and threatening our ecosystem.
For too long, plastic, a ubiquitous symbol of convenience, has been treated as a linear commodity - manufactured, consumed, and discarded. But in an era where sustainability has evolved into a boardroom priority, the issue of plastic waste has emerged as both, a global challenge and a litmus test of corporate accountability.
India alone currently generates approximately 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, with over 50% mismanaged or uncollected. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), only 60% of the total plastic waste was recycled in 2022–23, highlighting the pressing need for scalable collection and processing infrastructure.
Compared to other developing economies, India's per capita plastic waste generation is lower but growing at an alarming pace, projected to double by 2035 if unchecked. The need of the hour is to step up waste management by reimagining it as a resource.
This is where the corporate sector begins to play a vital role as part of a fundamental shift - a realization that the true responsibility of businesses extends beyond mere production to the very end of a product's life.
Businesses today are increasingly aligning themselves with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). They are no longer passive contributors to waste but active agents of transformation. The urgency and opportunity in addressing plastic waste have been clearly outlined in recent studies, as seen in publications by The Circulate Initiative and Fauna & Flora International.
Recycling, as opposed to incineration, could save over 2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions annually in India and Southeast Asia. The global market for plastic waste is projected to cross US $50 billion by 2030, provided the systems for collection, segregation, and conversion are strengthened.
The environmental toll of incineration, with its release of greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants, and the ever-growing mountains of landfill, demand a new paradigm. Governments and industries are now exploring waste valorisation - thermochemical processes like pyrolysis and gasification that reclaim energy and raw materials from waste.
India is actively advancing this agenda, and the government has launched several forward-looking initiatives. The National Bioenergy Programme (2022–2026) promotes decentralised waste-to-energy projects and offers financial incentives to developers, while the Waste to Energy Programme under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy encourages energy recovery from industrial and municipal waste streams.
Corporations are also stepping up. Some are collaborating with local governments to drive innovation. Some are investing in recyclable packaging solutions tailored for local markets, while others are deploying digital traceability systems that link collection, sorting, and processing, thereby strengthening the EPR value chain.
Improving waste collection systems and doubling global mechanical recycling rates by 2030 could reduce plastic waste leakage by 20% and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30%. To achieve this, emerging economies like India must prioritize investments in urban material recovery facilities (MRFs), implement demand-stimulation policies, and expand capacity building initiatives, as highlighted in a 2022 report by McKinsey.
Aligning waste reduction strategies with long-term business goals increasingly relies on robust Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting frameworks. Waste and circular economy performance are now among the top three ESG metrics gaining prominence across leading firms, particularly in fast-moving consumer goods and industrial sectors in emerging markets - a trend noted by Deloitte.
The government's drive for decentralised waste-to-energy solutions, reinforced by the National Bioenergy Programme, has created room for corporates to innovate at scale, especially with the prospect of incentives. A notable example is the ‘EcoGram by Hyundai’ initiative in Gurugram, developed by Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) in close partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG).
This public-private model integrates biogas production with a robust material recovery system, offering a replicable urban waste management solution. Since its launch in October 2022, EcoGram has recycled over 11,15,370 kg waste and helped reduce over 1,44,000 kg CO₂ emissions - a quiet but powerful demonstration of what collaborative action can achieve.
The journey from a society grappling with mountains of garbage to one that harnesses waste for green energy and circularity is challenging, but it is also the one we must undertake with unwavering resolve. Efforts by responsible corporates demonstrate that with strategic partnerships, replicable urban models, and the will to act – an effective circular economy is within reach.
The road from refuse to resource is a cultural journey. It requires an amplification of these efforts.
As corporations, we have the capacity, the technology, and, increasingly, the will to lead this change. The onus is on us to ensure that the legacy we build stands the test of time, inspires the generations to come, and reflects our unwavering commitment towards driving Progress for Humanity.
Puneet Anand is AVP & Vertical Head - Corporate Affairs, Corporate Communication & Social at Hyundai Motor India Limited. Views expressed are the author's personal.