Page 41 - Plastics News October 2018

FEAturES

and scrap yards. And, fourth, appropriate technologies to reap in Environmental benefits. For example, one tonne of
maximise recovery from recycling are still nascent. Indian recycled paper saves approximately 17 trees, 2.5 barrels
recyclers have no choice but to depend mainly on imports of oil, 4100 kWh of electricity, 4 cum of landfill and 31,780
for quality scrap. litres of water over production of virgin paper from wood.
Largest importer of scrap Recycling of one tonne of steel scrap saves 1.2 tonnes
India is the third largest importer of various types of of iron ore, 0.7 tonnes of coal, 0.5 tonnes of limestone,
scrap material. Even imports from countries having Free
Trade Agreement (FTAs) with India are not cheap because
suppliers mark up their prices to bring parity with duty
added price of scrap from non-FTA countries.
To hedge such risks we need to ensure that there is
sufficient supply of domestic scrap conforming to globally
acceptable quality standards. There is also an urgent
need to incentivise innovation and R&D as unavailability
of indigenous technology often forces players to rely on
costly import of machineries. These measures would save
vital foreign exchange and, more importantly, protect our
beleaguered environment and create local jobs. 287 litres of fuel oil, 2.3 cubic meters of landfill, and is
Waste to Energy Generation achieved through 40 per cent less water and with 58 per
cent avoided CO2 emissions.
According to a study by the University of Oklahoma,
recycled steel reduces 97 per cent mining waste produced
through manufacture of virgin resources, saves 75 per
cent of energy, cuts back 86 per cent of air pollution and
76 per cent on water pollution. Similarly, recycling of an
aluminium can or producing a glass container saves 95 per
cent and 70 per cent, respectively, of the energy required
for producing a similar container from virgin material. As
an example, the US scrap industry generated over 150,000
direct jobs and 323,000 indirect jobs in 2015, according to
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), USA.
According to data gathered by the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB), municipal authorities in India In China, the recycling industry created 1.5 million direct
had established only 13 waste-to-energy plants, 56 bio- jobs and about 10 million indirect jobs. In India, the metal
methanation plants, 22 refuse-derived fuel plants and 553 recycling sector currently employs nearly 1.75 million
compost and vermicompost plants until 2014.However, people and contributes around 2 per cent to GDP. For India,
more treatment and processing plants need to be built recycling has the potential to create six times more jobs
to realize the true potential of solid waste. and generate around Rs 14-lakh crore of additional cost
According to the Planning Commission, municipal solid savings by 2030, which is approximately 11 per cent of our
annual GDP.For such compelling benefits, the global scrap
waste that is not utilized has the potential to produce metal market has been growing and is expected to increase
439 MW of power from 32,890 tons per day of combustible
waste. This includes refuse-derived fuel, 1.3 million cubic to $406.2 billion in 2020 from $277.1 billion in 2015.
meters of biogas per day and 5.4 million metric tonnes of While India provides a tremendous potential for reuse
compost (all annual) that can be utilized for agricultural and recycling of products, there is a felt need for a more
purposes. comprehensive policy and regulatory simplification aiming
Promoting Recycling Industry at a formal ecosystem and ‘ease of doing business’ for
recyclers. This includes removing barriers for the input
Promoting the recycling industry will help generate jobs factors, establishing a marketplace for scrap and recycled
and reduce dependence on scrap imports and would also

October 2018 Plastics News 2018 Plastics News
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