Indo-US workshop lays stress on green chemistry

Mussoorie, March 14
A three-day Indo-US workshop on “Green Chemistry for Environments and Sustainable Development” that was held at a hotel in Mussoorie concluded yesterday with the emphasis on forging a bilateral cooperation in promoting green chemistry throughout academia and chemical enterprise and reducing toxic waste to provide a cleaner environment.

The workshop was organised under the aegis of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University and Texas University. The speakers from the USA and India elaborated in detail about green chemistry and need to promote it in daily life so that there is reduction in the amount of the toxic waste in the planet. Dr J Leazer from the USA, while discussing the 12 principles of the green chemistry, said synthetic methods should be designed to maximise the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product. He also laid stress on the prevention of the waste rather than clean it up after it was formed. Dr Leazer also said that chemical products should be as effective as possible. He further said auxiliary substances such as solvents and separation agents should be avoided. He also said energy requirements should be low and extreme temperatures and pressures should be avoided so that there was decrease in the level of the toxic waste. Leazer also said the chemical products should be designed in such a way that at the end of lifetime they readily break down to harmless products.

Eminent chemical scientists Dr Joseph M. Fortunak from Howard University in Washington said there was need to educate cooperates about the green chemistry as it was economically beneficial to them apart from keeping the environment clean. Dr Fortunak also said that one thing that was needed at the government level was imposing strict regulations which were not being done so far.

Dr Fortunak said, “There was need to change the way we look at this planet and the workshop is a step on that direction”.

Praising India on its initiative to reduce toxic waste, he said India had done a lot to reduce the waste and using the material that was abundant in nature much more judiciously than many other countires. He also said india could become a leader in promoting green chemistry in near future as the enthusiasm among the people was immense in the country.

Dr Rajendar Bhatnagar later speaking to the media said the objective of the workshop was to forge ahead a bilateral understanding with the United States and India in regard to reducing the harmful chemical products from entering the environment. Dr Bhatnagar also said India should learn from the past mistakes and disregard such technologies which damaged the environment and the best way to work on that path was through introducing green chemistry in the academia and the chemical enterprise. He also said that the organization which was keenly following the green technology should be rewarded so that others were also motivated towards following green chemistry practically.

Elated at the outcome of the workshop on green chemistry, he said around 150 delegates from the various fields around the world participated and shared their experience and divulged various ways to reduce toxic waste from the environment.