Explained: India’s updated Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules

The revised framework paves the path to circularity by enhancing traceability, enforcement, and market uptake

India’s construction industry is expanding rapidly, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2 per cent between 2021 and 2025, and is projected to grow at 8.8 per cent during 2026–2030. To meet this demand, the country is expected to add 700–900 million square metres of commercial and residential space annually. This sustained growth is reshaping urban landscapes, but rising construction waste and dust emissions have emerged as critical challenges.

On 1 April 2026, the Environment (Construction and Demolition) Waste Management Rules, 2025, will come into effect. Notified in April last year by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India (MoEFCC), these rules mark the first revision to India’s construction and demolition (C&D) waste regulatory framework in a decade. They aim to align the sector with circular economy principles by introducing extended producer responsibility (EPR), waste utilisation targets, environmental compensation, and a centralised monitoring system.

The expansion in construction has led to a steady rise in C&D waste, such as concrete, bricks, stone, and ceramics, with annual estimates ranging from 150 to 500 million tonnes, i.e. around two-four times the total capacity of all the trucks currently registered in India. Hyperlocal surveys by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) have identified littered C&D waste and dumps in cities such as Mumbai, Thane, and Amritsar as sources of air pollution.

While recycling infrastructure has grown in response, with processing facilities increasing from 16 in 2019 to 34 in 2024 (and another 36 are currently proposed across ten states), their geographical distribution remains misaligned with waste generation and demand centres. For instance, Delhi currently has 106 public C&D waste collection points and four designated for bulk generators, but there is little evidence on how effectively these are located or utilised. The gap could be attributed to the absence of waste traceability mechanisms in the 2016 rules, which inhibited compliance and limited market opportunity for recycled products.

The 2025 rules seek to address these structural gaps by improving traceability, strengthening compliance, and enabling a more efficient and circular C&D waste ecosystem. 

Table 1: How are the latest rules different from the C&D Rules, 2016?

Source: Authors’ analysis

How do the updated rules enable circularity in the construction sector?

• Ensuring accountability by introducing EPR. For the first time, EPR is being introduced in India’s C&D waste management ecosystem. The rules define EPR as the responsibility of producers to manage C&D waste in an environmentally sound manner and meet recycling targets. These targets start at 25 per cent in 2025–26 and increase to 100 per cent by 2028-29.
  Globally, recycling mandates have proven effective in improving waste management. Japan’s Construction Material Recycling Law has increased the recycling rate of construction materials from 60 per cent in the 1990s to 90 per cent in 2024. By turning recycling into a mandate, India’s EPR encourages investment in recycling and strengthens accountability across the value chain. In the C&D sector, this, coupled with mandatory targets for the use of recycled materials and environmental compensation, could make recycling the financially viable option compared to illegal waste dumping at unauthorised sites or low-lying areas.
• Creating demand through mandatory waste utilisation targets. Even when waste is collected and processed, demand for recycled materials remains weak due to concerns around quality, certification, and high price. To address this, the 2025 rules mandate the minimum use of recycled or processed C&D waste in construction and road projects. The requirement begins at five per cent in 2026–27 and will increase to 25 per cent for construction and reconstruction projects, and 15 per cent for road projects by 2030–31. By ensuring assured offtake, these targets improve the financial viability of recycling plants and support the transition to circularity. International experience demonstrates the effectiveness of such measures. Germany’s Circular Economy Act prescribes the use of recycled aggregates in public projects, contributing to an 88 per cent recycling rate for C&D waste.
• Strengthening compliance through environmental compensation. A significant change to the C&D Waste Management Rules is the introduction of environmental compensation for violations of the rules. A portion of the collected compensation is slated to be reinvested in strengthening the C&D waste management ecosystem, including the collection and recycling of uncollected, legacy, and orphan waste that persist as sources of dust and pollution.

How can this rule help improve air quality in cities?

While improving air quality is not the primary objective of the C&D Waste Management Rules 2025, the rules can generate co-benefits in cleaning urban air in three possible ways,

• First, stricter demolition protocols can reduce dust emissions. The rules prescribe compliance with ‘IS 4130: Safety Code for Demolition of Buildings’ and other local guidelines. The rules also prohibit demolition without prior notification to local authorities. IS 4130 includes explicit dust control measures, such as covering waste during storage and transport, promptly removing debris, using green covering cloth, and ensuring water availability for dust suppression. Given that demolition activities can significantly degrade air quality at local or regional levels, effective implementation—along with city-level measures such as smart scheduling— could help minimise such impacts.
• Second, embedding monitoring requirements can strengthen enforcement of air quality regulations. The rules incorporate ‘IS 15883: 2021 – Guidelines for Construction Project Management (Part 11: Sustainability Management)’, which recommends installing air quality monitors at C&D sites. Evidence from China already shows that mandatory particulate monitoring reduces reliance on on-site inspections and improves compliance. While cities such as Delhi and Mumbai have introduced similar requirements, embedding these provisions within national rules could enable pan-India monitoring.
  Research by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) shows that linking such systems to semi-automated portals could further strengthen enforcement by flagging non-compliant sites in real time. Complementary provisions, such as waste inventories, legacy waste management, and the creation of waste collection sites, and intermediate storage facilities, could also reduce the prevalence of littered C&D waste, a hyperlocal source of air pollution.
• Third, improved compliance due to awareness and behavioural change can improve air quality. The rules require pollution control boards or committees, relevant union ministries, civic service providers, and other stakeholders to undertake awareness initiatives on these rules, waste management practices, and waste utilisation. C&D waste disposal attitudes in Chennai indicate that only 20 per cent of surveyed waste generators were aware that C&D waste is recycled, and just 14 per cent knew of designated waste disposal sites.
  A pilot by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water at a construction site in Gurugram has demonstrated that targeted behavioural interventions and training can lead to lower construction-related air pollution. Widespread dissemination of clear and compelling communication could help bridge the gap between the creation of waste management infrastructure as envisioned in the rules and its actual utilisation.

The introduction of EPR, waste utilisation targets, environmental compensation, and improved monitoring will increase accountability across the C&D waste value chain and help enable a steady supply of recycled construction materials. However, a key fiscal anomaly continues to constrain the market for recycled products. While many new construction materials attract a GST rate of five per cent, several recycled alternatives are taxed at 18 per cent as they are classified as intermediate industrial goods, undermining their competitiveness. Addressing this through GST revision could also help stimulate demand and strengthen the economic viability of recycling enterprises.

The introduction of EPR, waste utilisation targets, environmental compensation, and improved monitoring will increase accountability across the C&D waste value chain and help enable a steady supply of recycled construction materials. However, a key fiscal anomaly continues to constrain the market for recycled products. While many new construction materials attract a GST rate of five per cent, several recycled alternatives are taxed at 18 per cent as they are classified as intermediate industrial goods, undermining their competitiveness. Addressing this through GST revision could also help stimulate demand and strengthen the economic viability of recycling enterprises.

Srish Prakash is a Consultant and Arpan Patra is a Programme Associate at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Send your comments to [email protected]. 

Srish PrakashAuthor

Arpan PatraAuthor