The 2nd International Conference on “Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy” was held on 19th January at Waters’ Edge with a great success. The event was graced by the attendance of more than 20 speakers who interacted closely with more than 120 distinctive delegates representing a wide range of public and private sector organisations, in order to share the learning experiences. The conference encouraged the Sri Lankan enterprises to implement creative business models based on circular economy solutions in order to address the challenges they face inclusively with post -pandemic situation.
The theme of the Conference was “Extending to the Circularity for Cleaner, Greener, better tomorrow“
Renowned speaker, Dr. Rene Van Berkel, is the Head of UNIDO activities in the South Asian Region empathized in his keynote speech, how the industries can adapt to the concept of Circular Economy through different strategies. With this eye opening speech, the conference was started flowing under the direction of the session chair of the 1st thematic session on Circular Economy, Dr. Achala Abeysinghe, Asia Regional Director and Head of Programs, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
The speakers of the thematic session on Circular Economy highlighted the importance & validity of the circular economy concept, the existing strategies and how to adapt those to gain the intended benefits to the human and environment. The session was ended up with a panel discussion and participants could directly engage with the panelists and could gain lot of reallife experiences regarding circular economy. Mr. Amarnath Munnolimath, Senior Manager, adelphi, Germany, Mr. Rajat Batra, Chief Executive Officer, STENUM Asia, India, Dr. Carl Vadenbo, Project Manager, ecoinvent Association, Switzerland were the speakers of the session and Ms. Anika Kiefer of GIZ Sri Lanka also joined as a panelist.
The second Thematic Session on Resource Efficiency was chaired by Dr. Shazla Mohamed Senior Scientist, The Maldives National University. During this session, speakers implied the idea of resource efficiency, different approaches to effectively use resources while running the industries in an environmentally friendly manner. Panel discussion was comprised of global experiences from eminent panelists. Dr. Vidya Batra, Senior Fellow, The Energy & Resource Institute (TERI), India, Ms. Shaahina Ali, Executive Director, PARLEY Maldives, Prof. Ajith de Alwis – Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Moratuwa, participated as the speakers for the session and Dr. Sham’aa Abdullah Hameed joied as a panelist.
The Parallel session 01 was on the topic of Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production. It was chaired by Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake, Secretary, State Ministry of Rural Road and other Infrastructure Facilities. Circular economy for the developing Asia, and the challenges facing the nations were highlighted in the session.
Parallel session 02 was on the topics of Life cycle assessment, Eco Labelling, Eco design and Eco Innovation. The session was chaired by Dr. M M S S B Yalegama, Additional Secretary (Policy and Admin), Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. Global developments in LCA-based environmental product declarations, as well as the usefulness of LCI data for Circular Economy applications, were highlighted during this session. Environmental design and life cycle analysis (LCA) applications in the manufacturing sector were also addressed.
Dr. R.D.S. Jayathunga, Additional Secretary (Environmental Development), Ministry of Environment, chaired the Parallel Session 03 on Energy and Carbon Management. The distinguished speakers discussed energy and carbon reduction potential across Asia, process energy optimization techniques and technologies, and future energy plans etc. Mr. P C Prakash, Senior Manager – Energy Services, Forbes Marshall Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and Dr. Sandeep Mathur, Director, NDP School Pvt Ltd Mr. Vikas Kumar Singh, STENUM Asia, India, Mr. Loshan Palayangoda, Country Manager – Sri Lanka & Maldives, Forbes Marshall Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and Mr. Harsha Wickramasinghe, Deputy Director General, Sustainable Energy Authority, joined as speakers while and Mr. Ranga Pallawala contributed to the panel discussion.
