LUCKNOW: Committed to making Uttar Pradesh a greener place, the state government is formulating policies centering around '5Rs' (refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle) principle of waste management, said Ashish Tiwari, secretary, environment, forest, and climate change, UP.

He was speaking at a discussion on the circular economy for management of waste in UP during a panel discussion at 'RePlanet' summit, an initiative of The Times of India and Coca-Cola on Tuesday.

"Waste is generated from a wide variety of sources, from single-use plastic to multilayered plastic, from electronic waste to construction waste and vehicle waste. Following the idea of a circular economy, we must ensure not only recycling of waste but also follow the five principles of waste management," he said.

Explaining how to adopt the '5R', he said that people can 'refuse' using single use plastics and opt for alternatives. Similarly, energy consumption can be 'reduced' by choosing public transport and switching off lights when not needed.

Likewise, bottles can be 'reused' in making flower pots or other decor items and they can be 'repurposed' as containers. On 'recycling', he cited the example of items like aluminum cans, which are costly to extract from bauxite, but can easily be recycled from old cans.

He also cited the example of Manjappai movement in Tamil Nadu where people refuse to take poly bags.

"We are making efforts to educate people about waste management," said Tiwari, while insisting that e-waste is another menace."Around 85% of electronic waste is processed by the informal sector and we need to formalize this sector," he said while citing the recovery of 25,000 tons of black powder e-waste in the river bed of Kishanganga river in Moradabad recently.People must not throw waste in rivers, Tiwari advised.