From waste to roads: India and Norway explore new sustainable construction solutions

India and Norway are exploring joint research and technology projects to convert industrial and construction waste into useful materials for roads buildings and other infrastructure as both countries look to promote sustainable construction and better waste managementThe Council of Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR along with Norways SINTEF and the Research Council of Norway organised the IndiaNorway Dialogue on Waste to Resource Solutions in the Cement and Construction Sector on Tuesday at the India Habitat Centre in New DelhiThe dialogue brought together representatives from CSIR institutes Norwegian research organisations regulatory authorities and the cement and construction industries to discuss ways to recover resources from industrial waste and develop practical solutionsThe Ministry of Science and Technology in its official statement on Wednesday said the discussions focused on strengthening IndiaNorway cooperation through joint technologyoriented proposals involving CSIR institutes SINTEF and industry partners with a focus on translating research outcomes into practical and scalable solutionsThe discussions explored the possible use of construction and demolition waste steel slag fly ash red mud and other industrial residues in constructionrelated applicationsResearch initiatives from CSIRCentral Road Research Institute CSIRCRRI and CSIRAdvanced Materials and Processes Research Institute CSIRAMPRI highlighted opportunities to use fly ash copper slag red mud plastic waste and steel grit in road construction geopolymer concrete specialised aggregates and other valueadded construction productsThe Ministry said the discussions also covered challenges related to processing technologies standardisation economic viability and market acceptance of these wastederived materialsAnother important area of discussion was the safe treatment of hazardous waste through cement kiln coprocessingThe technical session led by experts from SINTEF and CSIRNEERI examined the potential of cement kilns to treat suitable hazardous waste including Persistent Organic Pollutants POPs DDT and PCBcontaminated materialsAccording to the Ministry international experience shared by SINTEF highlighted the potential of cement kilns to destroy hazardous organic contaminants under controlled hightemperature conditions while replacing conventional fossil fuels with wastederived alternative fuelsThe discussions also emphasised the need for appropriate technical protocols controlled industrial trials emission monitoring and regulatory compliance to ensure safe treatmentThe dialogue also focused on recycling construction and demolition waste International best practices discussed included recycled aggregatebased construction products mobile recycling units and improved processing techniques to remove impurities from waste materialsProf R Pradeep Kumar Director of CSIRCBRI highlighted the need to move from a linear to a circular economy by transforming construction and industrial waste into valuable resourcesThe Ministry said the dialogue identified several priority areas for future cooperation including the development of two to three joint IndiaNorway research proposals pilotscale demonstration projects for hazardous waste treatment technical guidelines for the disposal of DDT and PCBcontaminated waste and the development of wastederived construction materialsStrengthening industryacademia partnerships was also identified as an important area of collaborationThe dialogue was held in the backdrop of the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Norway established during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Norway in MayThe partnership places circular economy clean technology and research at the centre of bilateral cooperationThe programme concluded with both sides emphasising the need to strengthen research and technological cooperation promote circular construction practices and accelerate the transition towards sustainable and resourceefficient cement and construction sectorsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever