Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • About CRB
    • Governing Body
    • Team
    • Code of Conduct
    • Achievements & Affiliations
    • Annual Reports
    • Financials & Legal Documents
  • What We Do
    • Operational Verticals
    • Industry Sector
      • Agro Based Industries
      • Apparel And Textiles
      • ICT And Electronics
      • Mining and Minerals
    • Thematic Areas
      • Circular Economy
      • Business & Human Rights
      • Private Sector & SDGs
      • SMEs & Sustainability
      • Voluntary Sustainability Standards
      • Environment & Climate Change
  • Current Initiatives
    • Youth Engagement on Sustainability (YES)
      • Youth for Sustainability (YfS) India Alliance
      • Engagement & Representations
      • Youth for Sustainable Palm Oil Fellowship
    • Nutrition Security in India
      • Nutrition Innovation Mini-Challenge
    • PROGRESS (Global Value Chains & SDGs)
    • VSS Collaboration India
    • India Sustainability Standards (ISS)
    • Sustainable Palm Oil
      • Sustainable Palm Oil Coalition
      • Sustainability Ambassador
    • Sustainable Agro Value Chains
      • TEEB Agri Food
      • FOLU India CREST
    • TIES Forum
    • Circular Electronics
  • Knowledge Hub
    • Blog
    • News Room
    • Publications
    • Events & Updates
  • Careers
Menu
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • About CRB
    • Governing Body
    • Team
    • Code of Conduct
    • Achievements & Affiliations
    • Annual Reports
    • Financials & Legal Documents
  • What We Do
    • Operational Verticals
    • Industry Sector
      • Agro Based Industries
      • Apparel And Textiles
      • ICT And Electronics
      • Mining and Minerals
    • Thematic Areas
      • Circular Economy
      • Business & Human Rights
      • Private Sector & SDGs
      • SMEs & Sustainability
      • Voluntary Sustainability Standards
      • Environment & Climate Change
  • Current Initiatives
    • Youth Engagement on Sustainability (YES)
      • Youth for Sustainability (YfS) India Alliance
      • Engagement & Representations
      • Youth for Sustainable Palm Oil Fellowship
    • Nutrition Security in India
      • Nutrition Innovation Mini-Challenge
    • PROGRESS (Global Value Chains & SDGs)
    • VSS Collaboration India
    • India Sustainability Standards (ISS)
    • Sustainable Palm Oil
      • Sustainable Palm Oil Coalition
      • Sustainability Ambassador
    • Sustainable Agro Value Chains
      • TEEB Agri Food
      • FOLU India CREST
    • TIES Forum
    • Circular Electronics
  • Knowledge Hub
    • Blog
    • News Room
    • Publications
    • Events & Updates
  • Careers

Why and how are agricultural value chain actors adopting a Circular Economy approach

  • July 15, 2021

share this

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Nitya Chhiber

Nitya Chhiber

Programme Officer, CRB

The Circular Economy (CE) approach is one that is being adopted across the world due to many advantages associated with it.

However, for the sake of this article, which considers the agricultural value chain; one of the major motivations behind adopting a CE approach is resource efficiency. For example, the Union Government is exploring how the linear1 economy can transition to a circular economy  and has chosen eleven end-of-life products/recyclable materials/wastes of which agricultural waste has been allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare as the concerned line Ministry. From the examples that will be described below, it will be conveyed that the circular economy approach has significant implications on the addressal of Food Loss and Waste.

Let us consider some examples of how multinational companies are adopting a circular economy approach in their business operations. One company is Sodexo, which has introduced the WasteWatch2 powered by Leanpath Program, whereby Sodexo teams can rapidly and easily capture food waste data, giving clear insights into what is being wasted in their kitchens and why. Furthermore, many MNCs are applying circular economy principles in relation to the usage of plastics. Consider the New Plastics Economy, which is an initiative by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and which has FMCG giants such as Nestle, the Coca Cola Company, Danone, Mars Inc. and Unilever as partners, amongst others. Furthermore, the circular economy approach is a means for agri-businesses to address to meet global commitments that align with Agenda 2030, namely SDG 12 (Sustainable Production and Consumption).

Let us consider how circular economy approaches are used by actors along the agricultural value chain. Traders at Hyderabad’s Bowenpally sabzi mandi have installed a biogas plant on the premises, which is an example of the usage of waste-to-energy converters by the conversion of vegetable3 waste into electricity. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, such technology applies two principles of a Circular Economy, which includes “Design Out Waste and Pollution” and “Keep Products and Materials in Use.” Further downstream, a circular economy approach is demonstrated by food banks, which are focused on the recovery and distribution of food to areas of need. This particularly played an important role during the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic when supply chains and incomes were impacted and affected access to food. This model is important to be noted as it involves the private sector participation, namely major MNCs, which under CSR are approached for donations, namely, of the packaged and processed food kind.

In conclusion, adopting a circular economy is part of a multi-step approach towards facilitating the development of sustainable food systems.

1https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1705772

2 https://www.sodexo.com/positive-impact/sustainability/responsible-waste-reduction/wastewatch.html

3 https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/how-a-hyderabad-market-converted-vegetable-waste-into-electricity-1769899-2021-02-16

Calling Shotgun: Private Sector Participation in India’s Low-Carbon Transition

Responsible leadership: embedding sustainability in the Oil and Gas sector

Can India help drive the responsible consumption of Globally Traded Commodities

Measuring the S of ESG in the Apparel Industry

Evaluating the Cost of Convenience

Business Responsibility and Case for Sustainability

Partners so far

1
2
3
4
5
logo
logo1
logo2
logo3
logo4
logo5
logo6
logo7
logo8
logo9
logo10
logo11
logo12
logo13
logo14
logo15
logo16
logo17
logo18
logo19
logo20
logo21
logo22
logo23
logo24
logo25
logo26
logo27
logo29
logo30
logo31
logo32
logo33
logo34
logo35
logo36
logo37
logo38
logo39
logo40
logo41
logo42
logo43
logo44
logo45
logo46
logo47
logo48
logo49
logo50
awslogonew
logo52
logo53
logo54
logo55
logo56
logo57
logo58
logo59
logo60
logo61
logo62
logo63
logo64
logo65
logo66
logo67
logo68
logo69
logo70
logo71
logo72
logo73
logo74
logo75
logo76
logo77
logo78
logo79
logo80
logo81
logo82
logo83
logo84
logo85
logo86
logo87
logo88
logo89
logo90
logo91
logo92
logo93
logo94
logo95
Previous
Next

Get In Touch

CENTRE FOR RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

USO House, USO Road, 6 Special Institutional Area, Off Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg,New Delhi-110067 (India)

+91 9582994251

info@c4rb.org

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin
Instagram

Important Links

Home

About CRB

News

Blogs

Legal Documents

Contact Us

Privacy Policy

CRB on Twitter

Tweets by Centre4RespBiz

Copyright © all types of reserved by C4RB

  • About CRB
  • About CRB-demo-24thmay2022
  • Achievements & Affiliations
  • Agro Based Industries
  • Annual Reports
  • Apparel And Textiles
  • Articles
  • Associates
  • Blog
  • Blogold
  • Business & Human Rights
  • Careers
  • Careers demo
  • Careers-old-30-3-2022
  • Celebrating 10 Years
  • Circular Apparel Policy Innovation Lab
  • Circular Economy
  • Circular Economy: Opportunities & Challenges for countries of the Global South
  • Circular Electronics
  • CircularEconomyold
  • CircularEconomyoldold
  • Code of Conduct
  • Contact Us
  • Engagement & Representations
  • Environment & Climate Change
  • Event Details
  • Events & Updates
  • Events & Updates old
  • Financials
  • FOLU India CREST
  • FOLU India CREST-new demo
  • Gallery
  • Governing Body
  • Governing Body-backup-04-04-2022
  • Home
  • Home-demo-13-06-2022
  • Home-new-demo-04-06-2022
  • Home2
  • ICT And Electronics
  • Index
  • India Sustainability Standards (ISS)
  • India Sustainability Standards (ISS)-demo-new-21-04-20221
  • Industry Sector
  • Industry Sectors
  • Internship
  • Jobs
  • Legal Documents
  • Legal Documents-newdemo-18-04-22
  • Media
  • Mining and Minerals
  • News Room
  • News Room old
  • News Room-new-demo
  • Newsletters
  • Nutrition Innovation Mini-Challenge
  • Nutrition Innovation Mini-Challenge – Demo
  • Nutrition Security in India
  • Nutrition Security in India old
  • Operational Verticals
  • Privacy Policy
  • Private Sector & SDGs
  • Private Sector & SDGs demo
  • PROGRESS (Global Value Chains & SDGs)
  • Publications
  • Publications old
  • Publications-demo-new-19-04-2022
  • Sample Page
  • SMEs & Sustainability
  • Sustainability Ambassador
  • Team
  • Team-new_demo-06-06-22
  • TEEB Agri Food
  • TEEB Agri Food old
  • TEEB Agri Food-old-3
  • testinghome
  • The ReFashion Hub
  • The ReFashion Hub old
  • Thematic Areas
  • TIES Forum
  • User Dashboard
  • User Login
  • Voluntary Sustainability Standards
  • VSS Collaboration India
  • VSS Collaboration India-demo-06-04-22
  • yfs about
  • yfs fellows
  • yfs mentors
  • Youth for Sustainability (YfS) India Alliance
  • Youth for Sustainable Palm Oil Fellowship
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linkedin
Instagram