Circular Economy in Pune Architecture: Design Strategies for Zero-Waste Spaces

In an interaction with Thiruamuthan, Correspondent, Industry Outlook, Sucheta Mehetre, Head, Astha Design and Sustainable Consultancy, shared her thoughts on emerging advanced design technology in the city of Pune, with a sustainable approach to reduce carbon footprint. Sucheta is an experienced green building consultant and architect with over 18 years of experience in consulting pan-India. Her expertise involves appropriate consultation during the feasibility of the project with respect to Green certification, Facilitation, and documentation that includes suggesting appropriate material and technology.

With Pune emerging as a design-forward city, how are leading architecture firms embedding circular economy principles into spatial planning to eliminate construction and demolition waste from the outset?

An architectural and sustainable consultancy approach to the city of Pune shows that its high cultural and climatic context has a significant impact on design strategies. Based on the traditional architecture such as the Wada system, the designers can apply passive design (courtyards, natural ventilation, daylight, and window-wall proportion) in the modern architecture.

In this way, the wastage of construction material and labor in the construction process is minimized. Nevertheless, redevelopment projects in Pune continue to produce large quantities of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. There are a few local recycling agencies but there is no strict policy or tracking system in place. Recycling and upcycling, of plastics, steel bars or other products, is done in bits, but the cycle is not quite complete yet. This will rely on setting of policies and more stringent approaches that will help to reduce carbon footprint and ensure that it becomes truly circular.

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What materials and construction systems are gaining traction among Pune’s architects aiming to create buildings that can be disassembled, reused, or regenerated within the urban ecosystem?

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks are very popular due to their thermal properties. The problems of chipping during interior works, however, encourage some builders to revert to old red bricks, particularly, in redevelopment projects. Once AAC manufacturers solve this problem, AAC might take over as the material of choice as regards sustainability.

Other materials that are on the rise are bamboo reinforcement (in G+2/G+3 buildings, but an even higher storey is still RCC and steel).

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How do zoning regulations, municipal bylaws, or waste management policies in Pune enable—or hinder—the architectural push toward circularity and zero-waste outcomes?

There are currently no strict policies in Pune, which are specifically aimed at reaching the results of zero waste in construction. Although some waste is handled by agencies such as Swachh, construction and demolition waste does not have robust Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and there are no systems to track the waste.

Waste segregation is promoted at the household level by municipal activities, and the management of construction waste still needs more strict regulations, clear responsibilities, and proper enforcement. Circularity in construction will be achieved only partially without the closure of the waste loop.

In what ways are Pune-based architects collaborating with local suppliers, builders, and fabricators to ensure circularity across the project lifecycle?

We have a great chunk of the collaboration being led by enthusiastic suppliers. They often go to architects and green building consultants with new sustainable materials. The consultants then keep a material master database- an Excel sheet of all foundation-to-roof product information, vendors and technical specifications.

In the design and certification process, the consultants share this information with the builders and specifications are built directly into BOQs (Bills of Quantities). This saves time to the builders in selecting their vendors and also in meeting the sustainability standards. The consultants can be used as an example; they suggest glass, STPs, or biogas plants vendors. These specifications are trusted by the builders as they are supported by technical expertise. This connect the dots between vendors and builders means that circular strategy does not exist only in theory, but it is actively practiced within the supply chain.

How does circular thinking affect the way spaces are used in Pune’s public or mixed-use projects, especially in reducing everyday waste?

Pune Municipal Corporation practices waste segregation at the source, i.e. societies will have to separate wet and dry waste, or the collection services are not provided. This guarantees a certain level of circularity in the day-to-day waste management.

Plastic recycling is being tried, but it is not on a large scale, and the plastic ban is enforced more rigidly, with paper alternatives advocated. But the recycling of construction waste still does not have appropriate SOPs and tracking systems. Circularity in construction materials still needs structural reforms, whereas operational waste management is already getting better.

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With rising urban density and limited resources, what circular design ideas can drive zero-waste buildings in India’s fast-growing cities, starting with Pune?

The most viable answer is to make management of construction waste part of the regulation process. Indicatively, when registering a project under RERA, builders may be asked to reveal the way they will dispose of construction waste. This may be attributed to the presence of third-party agencies providing one-stop services where hazardous, reusable and recyclable waste streams are handled within one system.

When such a system is linked to obligatory milestones such as RERA registration at the start and Occupancy Certificate (OC) at the end, the builders would be forced to prove their adherence. This would ensure that waste can be tracked and controlled throughout the life cycle of the project without straddling builders with management agencies. Eventually, this model may be scaled to other cities in India, in addition to assisting the expanding cities to adopt circular construction methods.