Solving for societal good

Municipal solid and liquid waste in India can be turned into a Rs 5-lakh-crore business, Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said in his inaugural address at The Times of India Social Impact Summit in Mumbai.“With the right approach, we can convert waste into wealth, create jobs, and address environmental concerns,” he said. “Plastics can be turned into fuel, sewage into industrial-grade water, and even garbage into commercially viable products,” he added.Citing a project in Mathura that treats sewage flowing into the Yamuna, he said, “That treated water is now being used by nearby Indian Oil refinery.” The particulates are treated with organic culture while the extracted sludge is turned into bio-flocculants.

“If we scale this up nationally, the potential is enormous,” he said.Gadkari drew from personal experience, saying: “For the past nine years, I have been selling treated toilet water from my constituency, earning Rs 300 crore annually.”He highlighted clean energy as another area of potential. “Thermal plants have traditionally used coal, but NTPC and the Maharashtra govt have started using biomass—also known as white coal.

It costs Rs 7 per unit but is far cleaner,” he said.With 17 percent of India’s land classified as wasteland, he proposed bamboo plantations for biomass. “We’ve invested Rs 5 crore to develop 1.5 lakh ha. Tree plantations around mines can earn carbon credits,” he said.A deeper rethinking of CSR in India is the need of the hour, said Sivakumar Sundaram, CEO (Publishing), The Times of India. “India’s CSR investment was approximately Rs 30,000 crore last year,” he said. “But more important than the quantum is the quality—how we measure impact, how we embed sustainability into strategy, and how we turn compliance into conscience.”The summit was presented by Malabar gold & diamonds with HAL as PSU partner, FUEL (skill partner), E&Y (knowledge partner) and supported by Times Foundation.