Viraj has joined The Council as a consultant within the Clean Air Team. His areas of expertise include circular economy, solid waste management, WASH, clean air and green skilling. His goal is to contribute to the journey of sustainability and redefine the concept of a developed country by setting India as an example. At the Council, he is working on developing strategies for a circular economy, conducting research towards clean air and advancing solid waste management strategies through concepts such as zero waste ward.

Prior to joining the Council, Viraj worked as an Environmental Planner at Environmental Management Centre Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai, where he contributed to formulation of roadmaps and guidance documents for fostering circular economy in various sectors. His work included developing a comprehensive green skills curriculum for five focused CTS trades on resource efficiency, energy efficiency, and waste management as three thematic areas, assessing the economic feasibility of a plastic waste material recovery facility (MRF) in Bangkok, supporting the Ministry of Environment for India’s G20 Presidency with research on plastic credits and EPR certification and conducted impact assessment of the activities carried out by a waste management startups in the rural villages of Maharashtra. Viraj also worked on collecting data for GHG inventorization of scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and conducting a detailed situational analysis of the circularity in the steel and iron sector for a district in Odisha.

Viraj holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning specialising in infrastructure from CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from KRVIA, Mumbai. Outside of work, he enjoys reading, sketching, creating graphical illustrations, gardening, and playing table tennis.