Why in News?

• Natural resources form the backbone of any economic development. India, as one of the fastest growing economies with GDP at 2.6 trillion USD, has increased its material consumption to six times.
• Enhancing resource efficiency and promoting the use of secondary raw materials has emerged as a strategy for ensuring that the potential trade-off between growth, resource constraints and environmental well-being can be minimized.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy

Policy Highlights:

• The Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy (NREP) envisions a future with environmentally sustainable and equitable economic growth, resource security, healthy environment (air, water and land), and restored ecosystems with rich ecology and biodiversity.
• The Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy is guided by the principles of
• Reduction in primary resource consumption to ‘sustainable’ levels, in keeping with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and staying within the planetary boundaries,
• Creation of higher value with less material through resource efficient and circular approaches
• Waste minimization
• Material security, and creation of employment opportunities and business models beneficial to the cause of environment protection and restoration.