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The World Circular Economy Forum 2026 concluded at Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 16 September 2026 after two days - the first time the forum has been held in South Asia.
It drew around 2,700 delegates and 260 speakers from over 60 countries, with four plenary sessions, 16 parallel sessions and an exhibition of 135 national and international exhibitors.
Sitra's Director of International Programmes, Kristo Lehtonen, handed the baton for WCEF 2027 to Columbia University, United States.
The Ecomark logo was launched at the closing session, alongside the WCEF2026 highlight film.
Eighty accelerator sessions were scheduled for 17-18 September 2026 to convert the forum's ideas into implementable pathways.
Creator and global convenor of the World Circular Economy Forum; an independent public foundation that reports directly to the Finnish Parliament rather than to the government of the day, and works as both a think tank and an investor.
Statutory pollution regulator that runs India's Extended Producer Responsibility portals for e-waste, battery waste and plastic waste, and implements the Ecomark Rules, 2024 with the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Annual global platform on the circular economy, first held in Helsinki in June 2017 with 1,600 participants from nearly 100 countries; later editions have been hosted in Japan (Yokohama, 2018), Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium (Brussels, 2024), Canada, Rwanda and Brazil.
Notified in November 2022 and in force from 1 April 2023, they replaced the 2016 rules with a tradable EPR-certificate regime. Manufacturers, producers, refurbishers and recyclers register on a CPCB portal; recycling obligations run at 60 per cent of waste generated in FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25, 70 per cent in FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27, and 80 per cent from FY 2027-28.
Notified on 24 August 2022, replacing the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. They cover all battery types - electric-vehicle, portable, automotive and industrial - mandate collection and recycling under EPR, and prohibit landfilling and incineration of waste batteries.
Notified by MoEFCC on 26 September 2024, replacing the Ecomark Scheme of 1991. Administered by CPCB with the Bureau of Indian Standards; the label's symbol is the earthen pot, and a grant of Ecomark is valid for three years or until the product criteria change.
The statute under which the Central Pollution Control Board - the nodal implementing agency for these EPR regimes and for Ecomark - was constituted in 1974.
EPR shifts the cost and duty of end-of-life collection, recycling and safe disposal from municipalities to the producer who put the product on the market. India enforces it through registration on CPCB portals, annual targets set as a percentage of past sales, and certificates that obligated producers buy from registered recyclers.
Simple Analogy: The company that sells the bottle also has to bring it back.
Launched on 20 October 2022 at the Statue of Unity, Ekta Nagar, Gujarat with the UN Secretary-General present, after the Prime Minister introduced the LiFE idea at COP26 in 2021. It is the demand-side counterpart to the circular economy's supply-side rules, and MoEFCC notified the Ecomark Rules, 2024 expressly under the Mission LiFE initiative.
The same architecture now covers plastic packaging, e-waste and battery waste - three separate rule sets, one regulator and one certificate mechanism. Exams test which rule year goes with which waste stream.
The Gujarat government and Gujarat Pollution Control Board co-organised WCEF2026 with MoEFCC, CPCB, Sitra and the Government of Finland at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation, Pollution and Waste Management
General Awareness > Summits, Conferences and Environment
In India, 'extended producer responsibility' was introduced as an important feature in which of the following?
Answer: The e-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011
In the context of which one of the following are the terms 'pyrolysis and plasma gasification' mentioned?
Answer: Waste-to-energy technologies
Consider the following statements: Statement I: Circular economy reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases. Statement II: Circular economy reduces the use of raw materials as inputs. Statement III: Circular economy reduces wastage in the production process. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
Answer: Both Statement II and Statement III are correct and both of them explain Statement I
A production and consumption model that keeps materials in use through reuse, repair, refurbishment and recycling instead of the linear take-make-dispose path.
India's voluntary eco-label for products with lower environmental impact, symbolised by an earthen pot, governed by the Ecomark Rules, 2024 and administered by CPCB with BIS.
A tradable credit generated by a registered recycler on the CPCB portal and purchased by an obligated producer to meet its recycling target.