Circular Economy

Why in news?

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in association with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is going to organize a two-day hackathon ‘India–Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE)’ on 7 and 8 December

About I-ACE:

• I-ACE will focus on identification and development of innovative technology solutions by bright-minded students, startups and MSMEs of both nations.
• The four key themes for the hackathon are namely, innovation in packaging reducing packaging waste, innovation in food supply chains avoiding waste, creating opportunities for plastic waste reduction and recycling critical energy metals and e-waste.
• Shortlisted students and startups/MSMEs will be called for the hackathon, where two winners (one student and one startup/MSME) per theme from each country will be announced at an award ceremony 

About circular economy:

• A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources.
• Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions.
• The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources.
• All "waste" should become "food" for another process: either a by-product or recovered resource for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost).

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding “ATAL innovation mission”:
1.It is a flag ship initiative by Department of Science and Technology to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
2.The beneficiaries of the mission are limited to School and College students.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question