As part of efforts to tackle the massive quantity of construction waste, the Cabinet today approved an MoU between Norway-based SINTEF and Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for cooperation in scientific research in the field of waste recycling.
The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF) under the 'Swachch Bharat Mission'.
SINTEF is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia and will also cooperate in human resource capacity building.
The Prime Minister had launched "Swachch Bharat Mission" on October 2 last year that seeks to create a clean India and the country faces a major problem of disposing of construction and demolition waste, especially in housing and roads sectors.
Construction industry in India generates about 10-12 million tons of waste annually.
There is a huge demand of aggregates in the housing and road sectors but there is significant gap in demand and supply, which can be reduced to a certain extent by recycling C&D waste.
While some of the items like bricks, tiles wood, metal, etc. Are re-used and recycled, concrete and masonry, constituting about 50 per cent of the C&D waste is not currently recycled in India.
