Recycling to enhance economic growth, create wealth & generate employment – Shri Nitin Gadkari

 
India’s recycling industry is playing very important role in terms of its economic output as well as employment generation along with contribution towards sustainable management of resources. Looking at such an exponential demand for recycling resources and to draft the recycling policy in India, NITI Aayog and Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) organisedan International Conference on“Sustainable Growth through Material Recycling: Policy Prescriptions” on August 6, 2018 at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi. KPMG was the key knowledge partner of the conference.
 
This conference brought together high ranking national bureaucrats, more than 400 delegates including 40 expert speakers from the recycling commodity such asmetal, plastic, papers, e-waste, tyre, construction and Demolition India on one platform to discuss and evaluate the issues and bottlenecks to scale up material recycling in India.
 
Theme of the conference was to identifyrecyclingpolicy prescriptions for the development and growth of material recycling in India towards creating more jobs, convert wealth to waste, protect the environment and take steps towards adopting circular economy concepts. Such a first-ever conference was participated and supported by domestic industry association (metal, paper, plastic, tyres, e-waste) along with international recycling associations of BIR, ISRI, JARA, BMR, EMR, ILA etc.
 
Mr Sanjay Mehta, President, Material Recycling Association of India welcomed the Chief Guest, Hon. Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping & Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr. Rajiv Kumarji, Vice Chairman, NITI Aaayog, Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Mr Surendra Borad Patawari, Chairman, Gemini Corporation, Belgium, Mr. Ranjit Baxi, President – Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Uk, Mr. Brian Shine, Chairman -Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), USA, , MrArun Kumar, CEO – KPMG and distinguished government officials and recycling industry delegates.
 
At the welcome address, Mr. Mehta presented MRAI’s vision towards greener, cleaner earth by promoting recycling of all recyclable commodities in India, converting waste to wealth and to become an eminent force that helps to reduce or minimise carbon emission and protect natural resources for sustainable & economic benefits.
 
Mr. Mehta also brought to the attention of honourable Minister MrNitinGadkariji that India must concentrate on making a strong National Material Recycling Policy viable & suitable for Indian atmosphere, after taking into consideration the world’s best recycling practices.
 
Addressing the conference, Mr Nitin Gadkari said, “waste recycling policy can help in transforming the country’s economy.” There is a huge opportunity to convert waste into wealth, he further added. Gadkariji emphasised that more participation by the citizens is the key towards a successful recycling movement.Once the recycling policy is rolled out, recycling sector is expected to grow by leaps & bounds leading to huge economic growth as well as employment generation.The minister also stressed that converting waste into wealth will earn over Rs 5 lakh crore for the country.
 
“Waste management has huge economic potential in our country and waste to wealth is the need of the hour,” he added.The minister further said that recycling will increase growth, create wealth, and generate employment. He further added that it can also help in eradication of poverty.
 
Mr. Gadkari also highlighted the need to fix short and long term targets in order to lessen reliance on non-renewable resources and also reduce adverse effect on the environment.He also said that such a movement can help in sustainable development of the country and also ensure wellbeing of its people.The Union Minister has urged Niti Aayog to come up with a policy on material recycling.
 
Considering India’s rising population, the problem of waste is huge in the country and it can only be solved through a holistic policy that takes other related ministries such as Highways, Urban Development in confidence, he added.
 
Nitin Gadkari also said that his ministry has made it mandatory to make use of 10 percent plastic or rubber in construction of bitumen roads. A notification in this regard will be out shortly.
 
Delivering the keynote address, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog highlighted the benefits of recycling and reuse on environment, economy and the social sector and therefore the right framework to encourage recycling should be created. The requirement for scrap is projected to grow at about 11% CAGR in next few years. Unfortunately, owing to limited supply and low quality of scrap in India, organized players import various types of scrap which makes India the third largest importer of scrap, Dr Kumar said.
‘So, there are concerns in the management of metal scrap. But, my prime concern today is to bring about a transformation in the manner in which India handles construction and demolition waste, glass, plastics and end of life electronic equipment,” he added further. Speaking at the conference, Niti Aayog CEO, Mr Amitabh Kant said that Government aim is to see double-digit, sustainable growth of the economy.He further said that the government endorses the importance of recycling and firmly believes that it will benefit all major sectors of the Indian economy.
 
Looking at India’s current scenario of depleting vital natural resources and the valuable resources dumped / wasted in landfill causing serious harm to the environment, it is high time that India should roll out the much awaited National Recycling Policy very soon, taking into consideration the various recommendations put forward by MRAI & KPMG Consultants in the draft report. This will bring the current unorganized recycling into formal organized manner, adhering to the norms prescribed in the recycling policy.
 
The first topic after the inaugural session titled “Circular Economy in Material Recycling”was chaired by Commodore Sujeet Samaddar, NM (Retd),Sr. Consultant, NITI Aayog. The session deliberated on understanding the application of circular economy concepts, its role in ensuring sustainable consumption, challenges in its implementation in the Indian context and the possible solutions.
 
“Infrastructural issues in Recycling Industry” session was chaired by Dr. Anup Wadhawan, Commerce Secretary, Government of India. Core infrastructural and logistics requirements to develop thematerial recycling industry in India was discussed in this session.
 
Dr. Surina Rajan, Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards chaired the technical session on “Standardization and certification in Recycling Industry”. This session emphasized on the development and implementation process of standards and certifications in India in alignment with international standards.
Mr C.K. Mishra, Environment Secretary, Government of India chaired the session on “Environmental Benefits of Material Recycling”. The session provided an insight into the environmental benefits of recycling and the environmental impact of recycling processes.
 
The final technical session was on “Financial and Taxation issues in Recycling Industry” chaired by Dr. Rita Pandey, Professor, NIPFP. This session explored the methodologies for incentivising recycling under GST regime

Dr. V. K.Saraswat, Member of Niti Aayog was the Chief Guest at the Valedictory session. He appreciated NITI Aayog, MRAI and KPMG for their joint-efforts in formulating a National Recycling Policy and opined that never before such a conference of this stature on recycling in India involving Niti Aayog. Dr. Saraswat emphasised more on ‘Business Opportunities in Recycling Zone and International Best practices’ which was well received by the audience. The speech was very encouraging and it reinforced confidence amongst industry about the potential it holds and the impact it can create in the society. He also appreciated MRAI’s active support to NITI Aayog officials to bring a cleaner, greener India through recycling of all commodities for a sustainable development.
 
The conference ended with a special session Nayi Soch– Ted Talk session where Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Asst. Municipal Commissioner, Shri Sharad Ughade shared his experiences about social awareness, circular economy, waste collection and behavioral changes to make recycling and reuse a habit. On the second day, Niti Aayog and MRAI organized the Industry Expert Meeting under the chairmanship of Commodore Sujit Samaddar (Retd) to understand more from commodity expertssuggestion to be incorporated in the National Recycling Policy. Among the expert speaker David Nolan, ED, Auto Recyclers of Australia, L. Pugazhenthy, ED, ILZDA, Dr. Vijay Haboo, Reliance, Dr Sameer Joshi, Plastindia Foundation, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Founder, Greenspace, Mr. Gaurav Sekhri, MD, Tinna Rubber, Lalit Garg, Secretary, Gujarat Paper Mills Association, Sandeep Patel, CEO, Nepra, Ms. Shahana Chatterji, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. On behalf of MRAI Executive Committee Members, Sanjay Mehta, Dhawal Shah,Dr Kishore Rajpurohit and Vijay Agarwal participated at the expert group meeting. This meeting was also attended by Ms. Adina Adler, Director- Government Relations, ISRI, Ranjit Baxi, President, Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Mr. Bhuwan Purohit, Executive Director & COO, Rubamin Limited, Mr. Sharad N Ughade, Assistant Commissioner, BMC, Captain Mohan Ram, Chairman Recycling Committee. SIAM was part of the expert committee members at the meeting.