MRAI: India’s growing role

From left, Salam Sharif representing the BMR, Doug Kramer and Robin Wiener representing ISRI, and Ranjit Baxi representing BIR help light a ceremonial lamp at the MRAI event.

With an economy growing at a 7 percent clip, as measured by annualized GDP growth, India is attracting attention from recycling organizations around the world.

Representatives from the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) and the Dubai-based Bureau of Middle East Recycling (BMR) all gave presentations at the 2015 Metals Recycling Association of India (MRAI) meeting, held in Mumbai in February.

“There is a strong sense of optimism in the country,” said Alexandre Delacoux, director general of the BIR. Delacoux said the Indian metals industry is hopeful for good news in late February from Prime Minister Modi in the form of “rolling back the import duties” on imported scrap metal.

Delacoux also pointed to Prime Minister Modi’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign as an open door that could assist the recycling industry. “It could spell the beginning of a new relationship between India’s government and the recycling industry,” he commented.

ISRI President Robin Wiener called the $800 million scrap trading relationship between the United States and India “very important” and encouraged the MRAI to stay in constant communication with elected officials and government agencies.

Wiener pointed out the success ISRI had in communicating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it wrote rules for handling solid waste that included recyclable commodities within the definition. “We worked directly with the EPA, the White House and Capitol Hill to educate [them] about the industry,” said Wiener.

President of the BMR Salam Sharif referred to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and India as “the early globalizers,” with trade patterns that go back centuries.

Sharif said that since the Indian economy opened up in 1991, its trade ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in particular have developed into a multibillion-dollar trade relationship. “India [began] emerging as the biggest trading partner of the UAE in the second half of the previous decade,” said Sharif.

Sharif invited delegates to Dubai for the Feb. 27-28 BMR meeting as well as the May 2015 BIR meeting.

A snapshot of India’s metal recycling sector was provided by Venkatesan Subramanian, a New Delhi-based analyst for research firm Frost & Sullivan. Subramanian conducted a study of the metals production sector and metals recycling industry that was commissioned by MRAI.

India has lower scrap utilization rates and lower collection rates “as against developed economies such as Turkey, Europe or the U.S.A.,” said Subramanian. Nonetheless, India is the third largest scrap importing nation, bringing in some 6.48 million metric tons of scrap metal.

Subramanian called for greater Indian government support for recycling, saying, “Recycling metal scrap uses a secondary raw material that converts waste into wealth for the nation.”

The 2015 MRAI International Conference was February 5-6 at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre and Hotel.