Research Activities

This project provides the opportunity for CSIRO and our research partners to develop an ambitious work program for the three year research timeframe.  The following outline the broad activities to be undertaken by three Activity Teams comprised of a mix of researchers from the six partner organisations.

Metrics and Data

  • Develop metrics and establish datasets that enable assessment of the magnitude of plastics waste and how quickly waste flows are growing in India.
  • Develop an understanding of the main supply chains for different polymers in India and associated waste flow destinations and leakages to waterways and oceans.

Innovation and Technology

  • Co-develop an industry and technology roadmap for a plastics circular economy unlocking future growth opportunities including short term opportunities for enhanced recycling of current plastics waste flows and accumulated plastic stockpiles and medium-and long-term strategies for industrial redesign and creation of new materials, products, processes and business models that allow for depolymerisation.

Policy and Behaviour

  • Identify growth opportunities and new industries and factors enabling sector change including assessment of infrastructure, regulations, market access, sector structure, skills and culture and strategic planning through the road map process.
  • Evaluate and monitor the initiative, identify policy implications for economic and employment growth enabled by new industries based on scientific innovation and plan for scale-up in follow-up bilateral activities between Australia and India.

Demonstration Projects

  • Establish new opportunities and create innovation capacity through identifying local and Australian industry partners to establish demonstration projects for plastics recycling and plastics waste reduction through industrial redesign and new business models.
  • Implement demonstration projects located in different parts of India, including both urban and rural locations, small community scale and large industrial scale applications.
  • Undertake assessments of economic and environmental implications of the demonstration projects.

The project will involve a continuous process of evaluation and learning that will build a knowledgebase that can be scaled up to the whole economy for all types of materials to foster circular interactions.

It is envisaged that the first year of the project would start with predominantly researchers, with a view to expanding the remit to bring in government and industry players as they are identified.

While the project is primarily focussed on reducing plastic waste in India, the project team expects the research to be applicable around the world.

Circular Economy Roadmap for Reducing Plastic Waste in India

Together with our partners, we produced the National Circular Economy Roadmap for Reducing Plastic Waste in India to highlight challenges and opportunities to enable new growth industries and employment in a zero plastic waste economy in India.