Circular economy is India’s next growth opportunity, not just an environmental imperative: Eva Ros

With the potential to add $624 billion to India’s economy by 2050 while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 44%, Eva Ros of Climate-KIC says circularity can drive resource efficiency, innovation, jobs and resilience, with Bengaluru emerging as a test-bed for place-based solutions.

This is an interview conducted by ‘The Environment‘ with Eva Ros, Project Lead for the Circular Economy Innovation Cluster (CEIC), Bengaluru, at Climate-KIC.

The Circular Economy Innovation Cluster (CEIC) was launched to create a self- sustaining circular economy ecosystem in Bengaluru. What was the original vision behind the initiative, and how has it evolved since its launch in 2023?
To understand why the Circular Economy Innovation Cluster exists, it helps to start with the city itself. Bengaluru is the world’s eighth largest tech hub and a vibrant and growing mega- city. Its population grew by 14% between 2013 and 2023, nearly double the 8.4% global growth rate, and that growth has put real pressure on the city’s waste management infrastructure. Today, the city generates over 6,000 metric tonnes of waste every day and this number is growing. Only 30% of that is managed by the municipal corporation Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP); the remaining 70% is handled by private contractors. The volume and complexity of waste impacts quality of life, livelihoods and community well-being while creating serious risks to human health and the environment.

That’s the context in which the case for a circular economy becomes clear. A circular economy is based on three principles: (1) Design out waste and pollution, (2) Keep products and materials in use as long as possible at their highest value, (3) Regenerate natural ecosystems. Moving away from a linear “take-make-waste” model isn’t just an environmental argument, PwC estimates that adopting circular economy principles could inject $624 billion into India’s economy by 2050, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 44%. It also has a practical, local dimension: processing and repurposing materials closer to where they’re generated creates local employment opportunities and reduces the emissions associated with transporting waste elsewhere.

Transitioning to circular economy principles offers real opportunity, but it’s not something any one actor can do alone. In Bengaluru, the vision from day one was to connect actors who usually operate in isolation from one another, such as entrepreneurs, government, researchers, investors, businesses, ecosystem support organisations, and informal workers around that shared challenge of waste, and to catalyse system-level transitions toward circular, low-waste urban economies. Since launching in 2023, The Circular Economy Innovation Cluster (CEIC) has grown from that starting point. What began as early groundwork, mapping the ecosystem and supporting individual circular ventures, has broadened into a fuller platform for collaboration, skills development, capital mobilisation, and knowledge sharing across the city. It’s also opened up partnerships along the way, including work with the Bangalore Science & Technology Cluster on e-waste. We’re careful not to present CEIC as a finished model, it’s an initiative that’s learning and adapting as it goes.

Bengaluru generates more than 6,000 metric tonnes of waste every day. How does CEIC’s focus on upstream circular economy solutions differ from traditional waste management approaches, and why is this shift important?

Our current economic model is based on a linear system: extract raw materials, make products, use them, then throw them away. As a term, the “circular economy” has actually been in academic use since the late 1980s. But for decades, the conversation has centered almost entirely on what is called “downstream innovation”, better collection, sorting and recycling technologies. Yet, still only 6.9% of materials globally get recycled back into our economy, the rest becomes waste. Poorly managed waste poses serious health risks, deepens class divides and reduces recycling efficiency due to contamination. Overcrowded landfills emit methane (over 28 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2), contaminate groundwater and cause air pollution, while unmanaged waste attracts pests, increasing disease risks. That’s why it’s important to prevent waste at the design and business-model stage, rather than managing it afterwards. This is what is called “upstream innovation”. The European Parliament has found that 80% of a product’s environmental impact is already locked in at the design stage, exactly where downstream solutions can’t reach. Upstream innovation rests on three strategies: elimination, reuse, and material circulation. Intervening before waste is created offers significantly greater economic, social and environmental returns compared to traditional recycling and waste management approaches. True circularity requires going beyond downstream solutions, to prioritise waste elimination from the outset.

CEIC has supported 22 startups in Bengaluru and hundreds of informal workers. Can you share a success story that best demonstrates the impact of this collaborative model on livelihoods and environmental sustainability?

Informal waste workers – self-employed workers in the informal economy – play a crucial, yet marginalised, role in sustaining recycling and repurposing efforts. Social impact organisation Hasiru Dala highlights their economic contribution, noting that 15,000 waste pickers can save Bengaluru ₹840 million annually in collection and transport costs. CEIC learned that warm connections are needed with organisations that directly work with marginalised communities and waste workers. Through partners like Hasiru Dala, Sattva consulting and ANDE, CEIC has been able to better understand the challenges informal workers face and how circular ventures can support their livelihoods. Circular businesses can improve the working conditions of informal workers by creating regular and safer working opportunities in waste collection and sorting. This can be done as part of material recovery processes, upskilling workers to increase the value of their work, integrating them in new areas of the value chain and creating awareness among citizens and other key players about the essential role these workers play. In Bengaluru, the programme saw a gap in support for more established businesses that engage informal workers. So, the programme offered equity-free grants and training to more mature start-ups that have a strong social inclusion element to help catalyse solutions in waste prevention, textile recycling, and material reuse. Several businesses CEIC supported, such as Sunbird Straws, a company transforming fallen coconut leaves into 100 per cent biodegradable straws – were able to hire more informal workers following their
expansion, creating jobs in the local economy.

One of CEIC’s strengths is bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, government bodies, entrepreneurship support organisations (ESOs), and informal workers. What have been the biggest challenges and lessons in building such a diverse innovation ecosystem?

Circular ventures differ fundamentally from traditional start-ups: they operate across complex systems and value chains, require longer development timelines, and create environmental, social and economic value simultaneously. This demands specialised support with a deep understanding of circular design, impact measurement and market dynamics. We learned that awareness of the circular economy remains low and hard to shift at scale. Even the most promising circular ventures struggle to access suitable capital, and since circularity is poorly understood, including by investors, this limits the quality of support and investment these ventures receive. To enable more and better support to circular ventures, CEIC co-created the Circular Venture Blueprint with 14 organisations across Bengaluru and Nairobi, a guide for Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs). This open-source, practitioner-led knowledge base offers practical tools, methodologies, shared terminology and global case studies to deepen circular economy expertise, aligning them around common standards, reducing fragmentation, and accelerating scaling. Interest has been extensive: ESOs in both cities say CEIC raised the profile of circular economy work, with over 9,000 downloads to date. As the blueprint sets out, effective support means helping entrepreneurs articulate their circular impact, connecting them across the value chain, and treating monitoring as a tool for learning, rather than just reporting. Actors often work in silos, with different priorities and languages. Collaboration must go beyond networking it requires trust, shared understanding and repeated engagement.

The initiative has engaged stakeholders across nine waste sectors, including textiles, construction waste, organic waste, and e-waste. Which sectors have shown the greatest potential for circular innovation, and where do you see the biggest opportunities ahead?

Although adopting a waste agnostic approach, CEIC has always emphasised the need for more upstream innovations. In addition, we have seen interesting traction around e-waste which we are now further exploring in collaboration with Bangalore Science & Technology
Cluster. As the world’s third-largest generator of e-waste, India produces over 3.2 million tonnes annually. In addition, India has a 100% import dependence on critical minerals, creating an opportunity to harvest the value of e-waste. Bengaluru, as a major technology hub, is central to both the problem and the solution. Nonetheless, e-waste management in the city faces deep-rooted challenges spanning infrastructure, market design, governance, and social inclusion. Regions that are able to ‘mine’ materials from their own e-waste effectively will rely less on importing those materials from other places.

CEIC has recently partnered with the Bengaluru Science & Technology (BEST) Cluster. What does this partnership aim to achieve, and how will it strengthen innovation, research, and the adoption of circular economy solutions in Bengaluru?

The partnership with the Bengaluru Science & Technology (BeST) Cluster strengthens CEIC’s ability to connect circular economy entrepreneurs with research, technical expertise and innovation networks. It reflects a principle at the heart of CEIC: work that is being
anchored by strong local partners, because circular solutions scale faster when entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers and industry actors work together rather than in isolation. BeST is an established and highly respected player in Bengaluru’s innovation ecosystem. Sitting at the intersection of academia, industry, government and start-ups, it brings a convening power that few organisations can match; mobilising scientific expertise and connecting it to real-world application. That makes it an ideal partner to root CEIC’s ambitions in the city’s research and innovation fabric. Within this partnership, e-waste has been identified as a priority opportunity area for Bengaluru a challenge with both significant environmental urgency and strong potential for circular solutions. A key early step was a workshop held in May 2026, which brought important players together around this challenge and tested the appetite for a more collaborative community focused specifically on e-waste. The response confirmed there is real momentum to build on. Together with BeST, CEIC has been inviting non-profit organisations, industry partners, ventures and academic institutions working on mining e-waste to join this new community. Partners can propose concrete impact projects delivered through a consortium-based model or contribute to projects led by others. This approach is deliberate: it ensures no single actor carries the challenge alone and that solutions are designed collaboratively from the outset. To support this work, through CEIC, funding has been made available for selected impact projects, underlining that this is a serious, resourced effort to accelerate circular economy solutions in Bengaluru.

India has set ambitious sustainability and climate goals. How important is the circular economy in helping the country achieve economic growth while reducing waste and environmental impact?

PwC estimates that adopting circular economy principles could inject an enormous $624 billion into India’s economy by 2050, 15% of its current annual GDP, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 44%. Circular economy progress is central to achieving growth while reducing pressure on resources, waste systems and the environment. It should be framed as economic and social, not only environmental. For India, circular economy progress can support resource efficiency, new markets, innovation, jobs, emissions reduction and resilience. Cities are critical because urban areas concentrate consumption, waste, infrastructure pressure and innovation capacity. Bengaluru can be presented as a testbed for place-based circular innovation.

What policy changes, industry collaborations, or public awareness initiatives are most needed to accelerate the adoption of circular economy practices across India over the next decade?

What is also needed is a stronger enabling environment that makes circular economy solutions easier to finance and adopt. That means using public and corporate procurement to create reliable demand for recycled materials, reuse models and circular products; strengthening Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and recycled-content requirements so they become market-shaping tools rather than only compliance mechanisms; and creating financing instruments that fit the realities of circular ventures. Policy can also reduce risk through regulatory sandboxes, clearer standards and labelling, and tax parity for recycled materials. Alongside this, a stronger ecosystem infrastructure is needed for investor education, technical due diligence, impact measurement tools and collaboration platforms that connect producers, urban local bodies, informal workers, researchers, start-ups and capital providers.