As its paper industry continues to grow, India has come to rely on more than 2 million tons of imported recovered fiber to help meet its feedstock needs. But with a domestic recovery rate estimated at from 25 to 33 percent, the paper industry also is exploring how to recover more scrap paper closer to home.
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| Jogarao Bhamidipati of ITC Limited |
Panelists at the keynote session of the 2015 Paper Recycling Conference India offered varying opinions as to how India will proceed in the future to find mill feedstock either within the nation or from overseas suppliers.
Jogarao Bhamidipati, who helps coordinate domestic scrap paper collection efforts for Indian paper manufacturer ITC Limited, said India’s paper recovery rate may be as low as 25 percent. “What we actually throw away is what we need as an industry—nearly 8 million tons per year [of potential feedstock],” stated Bhamidipati.
ITC has been operating a collection effort known as WOW (Wealth out of Waste) to encourage Indians to recycle paper beyond the commonly collected old corrugated containers (OCC) and old newspapers (ONP) grades. However, says Bhamidipati, “Things are not going the way we wanted. It’s a matter of discipline and the habits of people.”
P.S. Patwari, executive director of Kolkata-based Emami Paper Mills Ltd., stated that “the paper industry in our country is short of raw material. The future lies in recycling.”
An Indian government projection that its paper industry’s furnish needs will grow from 13-to-14 million metric tons in 2015 to 25-to-30 million metric tons in 2025 should be a wake-up call, said Patwari.
Patwari said that even accepting a higher current domestic scrap paper recovery figure of 33 percent in India, that same rate will leave Indian mills from 7.5 to 10 million tons shy of material in 2025.
Rahul Khanna, director of Khanna Paper Mills Ltd., based in Amritsar, India, offered encouragement that India will rise to the occasion when it comes to recycling. “We are going to recycle not out of choice—it is a necessity. We don’t have any other options, [but] necessity is the mother of invention.”
Consultant Arun Bijur of Chennai, India-based SPB Projects and Consultancy said he also is convinced “that recycling will be something that develops with much greater force in the years to come.”
The consultant, who has 45 years of experience in India’s paper industry, said the Indian government will need to play a role to introduce “a much better way to handle garbage” and recyclable items in India.
Paper Recycling Conference India was held Jan. 29-30 at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi.