Baxi: ‘Why is recycling still not on the COP agenda?’

Founder of the Global Recycling Foundation Ranjit Baxi has lashed out at the organisers of climate summit COP30 in Belem, Brazil. Baxi finds it inconceivable that recycling is not explicitly on the agenda.     

In his role as the then BIR president, Baxi first attended COP22 in 2016 in Morocco when he pointed out the need for recycling to be part of the agenda and has been telling COP conferences ever since.

‘We continue to remind the powers that be of the need to recognise the immense contributions made by the recycling industries in helping to mitigate the climate crisis while recovering critical minerals,’ says Baxi. ‘Why is that an industry that saves billions of tonnes of carbon emissions, adds billions to global GDP, employs millions providing green jobs and reduces methane emissions by reducing landfill waste, is still not on the COP agenda?’

Weapons of power

According to Baxi, waste is a valuable currency and in time it will be more precious than land or oil because we are squandering the materials upon which the world is increasingly relying – copper, lithium, nickel and aluminium. He believes precious minerals are likely to become ‘weapons of power’.

‘China, once the factory of the world, has turned its focus inwards. No longer satisfied with making cheap products, it now seeks to dominate the supply chains that sustain green technology.’

‘It will cost us dearly’ 

Through massive investment in recycling infrastructure and control over critical mineral processing, China is positioning itself not just as a manufacturer but as the gatekeeper of the future, believes the GRF frontman. ‘While the West has embraced recycling, it is falling behind China in the most advanced systems and practices. It will surely cost us dearly in the very near future.’