54
GUEST COLUMN
Fotobijschrift
KADERKOP
??
Don’t limit what we
already do well
Walt Disney was right when he
said, ‘The way to get started is
to quit talking and begin doing’.
I’m quoting him say this because
these last four to five years have
seen an upheaval of sorts in
India with business and govern-
ment going full throttle.
Industry has expanded with massive
investment in capacity building, new
machinery and technology upgrades.
Flow of scrap, from both internal and
external sources, are increasing strongly
and every secondary metal-producing
plant in India has world markets in its
sights for selling its various products.
Several metal recycling companies have
tapped capital markets, too, and are
now listed on stock markets, confirming
that investors are overwhelmingly posi-
tive towards ‘circularity’.
Meanwhile, government offices and
corridors are buzzing with new policies
and plans, putting sustainability and
resource efficiency at the centre whilst
mapping India’s future growth and
development. The Prime Minister him-
self, on multiple forums, has spoken
passionately on the principles of the 6Rs
of Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle and Repair, asking India to
embed that mantra in daily national life.
He has pledged to the world to make
India a net zero country by 2070 and is
already ahead of the timeline by fast
tracking the renewable energy sector
over the past three years. It is like step-
ping suddenly into a new era in a world
of endless possibilities.
After more than 25 years in this indus-
try, I regard all this with pride, glory,
redemption and, it must be said, vindi-
cation. I feel vindicated because for
decades our recycling activity was
looked on as a very disorganised and
chaotic sector. Today it has become a
medium for transcending and trans-
forming India. Life has come full circle.
The mood is right, and the intent is
right, but one challenge that comes to
my mind is the issue of standards for
metal scrap. For the last five years,
industry and government have been
talking about adopting an acceptable
set of standards for the trade in second-
ary metals. They want to compartmen-
talise every type of scrap with minimum
and maximum thresholds for purity, iron
content, and metallic and non-metallic
impurity.
India’s is a frugal economy and discard-
ed recyclable items are routinely col-
lected and treated to recover optimal
value. The need for quality benchmarks
is welcome but that should be limited
to non-recyclables.
Choking the vibrancy or capabilities of
metal recycling through regulations
which curtail raw material supplies,
while continuing to allow products
made from mined resources, is com-
pletely retrograde. It derails our every
hope and aspiration to decarbonise and
become more sustainable.
Additionally, the proposed standards
for metal scrap entail complex sampling
and testing procedures which do not
meet modern infrastructure or man-
power resources. This could affect our
ports as well as create acute shortages
in material supplies. Discussions are
still underway so we can only hope
that Team India does not score an own
goal.
By Dhawal Shah, director Metco
Ventures LLP
54_column;dhawalshah.indd 54 03-05-2023 16:59
