6
En route to make
India ‘a recycling hub’
? ?
A U T H O R / P H O T O Martijn Reintjes
A traditional candle lighting ceremony marks
the opening of India’s annual International
Material Recycling Conference. More than
2 500 scrap recyclers and traders from Asia,
Europe and North America gathered in Jaipur
in the north of the country to do business and
discuss challenges the broad scrap metal
recycling sector has been facing.
MRAI president Sanjay Mehta again warned
about increasing trade barriers and import
duties affecting the free flow of scrap needed
to support India’s economic growth.
Even so, the future of recycling in India looks
very bright, industry leaders agreed.
According to Dhawal Shah of Metco, India is
well on the way to developing into a major
‘recycling hub’. ‘One day we’ll be a net
exporter of scrap materials,’ he told the
conference. ‘Multi millions of new cars,
phones, batteries and aircons now being
manufactured and sold domestically will
ultimately be collected and recycled here in
India.’
Shah added that his country and the sector
could only fully benefit when there was proper
and widespread recycling capacity. ‘We need
to solve some major issues and politicians will
have to turn good intentions into good
execution.’
Shah called on foreign investors to help ramp
up India’s recycling infrastructure.
A full conference report will be published in
the March/April Issue of Recycling
International.
06-07_thebigpicture.indd 6 29-01-2025 14:32
