Recycling Industry in india is gaining momentum
Ranjit S Baxi
President
Bureau of International Recycling {aisbl}
Ranjit Singh Baxi, is a Founder Chairman of J and H Sales (International) Ltd., leading exporters of Recovered Fibre for recycling, operating across UK, Europe and the Far East. In 2001, the company received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (International Trade).
In 2015 Mr Baxi was appointed President of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), prior to which he was Treasurer from 2011 and also President of the Paper Division from 2007-2013.
Mr. Baxi is a recognised expert in the recycling business, and is a major contributor to international trade journals.
He recently published an authoritative book “Recycling our Future – A Global Strategy” launched June 2014 at BIR Miami Convention. http://www.whittlespublishing.com/Recycling_our_Future
Amongst many awards received, Mr. Baxi was honoured to be voted ‘Asian of The Year’ in 2008.
Mr Baxi has also held a number of Non-Executive directorships, including being a Board Director of Olympic Park Legacy Company, London.
A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, FRSA, Mr Baxi holds a Bachelor of Science degree - BSc and a Master of Business Administration – MBA.
Speaking to Metalworld , he talks about his perspective on the global and national recycling industry
Excerpts
What is the status of recycling industry in India and on a global level?
Recycling industry in India is gaining momentum and has huge potential for development. Thanks to the Swach Bharat vision of Honourable Prime Minister Modi that we are seeing a lot of new innovative drives across India both to promote awareness of Recycling and increased collection of Recyclable waste. The more we recycle and less we send to landfills, we will see an exponential growth of Recycling industry across India generating increased employment, reducing waste mountains, reducing pollution and benefitting the economy at large.
With improving infrastructures and a clear emphasis on environmental matters by the Indian government, the recycling industry is bound to prosper. Companies need to invest in technology and environmentally friendly processes, along with securing a safer work environment for their employees.
At a global level, the recycling industry is facing uncertainties imposed upon by currency fluctuations, increasing regulatory controls affecting the free and fair movement of recyclables and the increasing logistics costs imposed upon us by our shipping partners. I am afraid that our industry is being forced to work with increasing complex and costly legislative measures which does not help to increase collection instead it helps to drive more waste to landfills - away from recycling. However, a functioning recycling structure needs to be put in place in all emerging economies of the world. I hope more of our colleagues and investors take advantage of those untapped opportunities in Africa, Latin America and some Asian countries and help to promote recycling, thereby saving millions of tons of carbon emissions and helping in meeting the climate change goals.
What needs to be done to strengthen the recycling of metals?
We are operating in a competitive world economy where free and fair trades ensures that the market dynamics function properly. The recycling of metals is directly linked to the international trade, as long as the materials can be shipped to where they are most needed and wanted, the industry will be profitable and able to invest into R&D, which is continuously needed to improve the industry’s output and increase the quality of our materials. At a political level, the world leaders must recognise the huge potential that lies in the recycling of metals, which can be used over and over again without losing their quality and performance, and incidentally they unburden the environment from mountains of obsolete materials.
The ELV – End of Life legislation for vehicles is currently being considered in India will help to promote increased collection of Scrap Metals and its processing by shredding which in turn is supplied as Raw Materials to the Steel Mills.
What are the activities of BIR on a global level?
BIR is the global federation of the recycling industry. By definition, our footprint and our actions are all global. We engage in political action by representing the interests of our industry at the level of supranational organisations such as UN, OECD, EU. We engage in creating networking and business opportunities for our members by organisation two international recycling conventions per year across the globe. We engage in enhancing the image of the recycling industry by organising the first-ever Global Recycling Day in 2018, on 18 March, where the world will focus for 24 hours on the importance of our Seventh Resource, recycling.
Tell us something about your book "Recycling our Future"?
I have written this book to share the story of Recycling both for the waste creators and the waste processors. As global population continues to increase we are generating more waste and so I felt it was important that the need for Recycling is shared with the civil society. The book provides an insight into the challenges facing the Industry and the individuals as we continue to place more demand on our natural resources which will at some point not be enough to meet the growing raw material demand. Recycling is the answer to help meet the increasing demand for bigger homes , larger TV’s , Computers, bigger cars and increasing need for transportation.
Recycling industry tends to be over regulated globally making it difficult to promote free and fair trade of Recylables. I have tried to discuss the need to promote this with minimum regulatory controls.
Recycling industry is an important source of Secondary raw material for the Industry. I have discussed the need for improved collection and sorting systems to ensure that we produce Recyclables of the highest quality to help the Industry quality demands.
Waste is a valuable resource that must be recognised as an important investment worthy commodity to help us promote a greener planet.
