Recycling-A Responsible Business Opportunity

The moment we forget our responsibility, the law enters in our life, then starts the process of “compliances” for some. Another side of the coin is, we expect Doctors, Drivers, Piolets must do their work with complete accuracy & responsibility but whether all professions follow the same standards? This dual standard is based on my simple philosophy, I expect others must to do their duty with full responsibility but whatever I do, please consider the same as my obligation!

At this point, I am compelled to reproduce part of a report appeared in Mumbai Mirror on 31st October, 2020:

Mumbai Mirror Oct 31, 2020

“Burning of plastic, electronic waste by scrap-pickers along Mahim-Sion Link Rd leaves residents fuming. ?A fire broke out under the Dharavi bridge, on the Mahim side, on Friday due to scrap burning in the area, with residents claiming they had alerted the authorities to the illegal practice several times.

The burning of plastic and electronic waste by scrap-pickers along the Mahim-Sion Link Road is having a severe impact on the health of people, residents told Mirror, with heavy black smoke hovering over the area for most of the day. Mushtaq Ansari, a social activist and Mahim resident, said repeated warnings have gone unheard. “A big fire broke out today below the Dharavi bridge, and it covered the area in billowing smoke. It was due to scrap burning. I have been raising the issue repeatedly, but no one has paid attention,” Ansari said.

A fire brigade official confirmed the cause of the blaze and said: “One fire engine was sent there and the fire was brought under control immediately. There was no major damage.” Abdul Wahab Dhoira, an architect, lives on Mori Road, near Mahim Bus Depot. He said the rag collectors start burning scrap at night and by morning “our locality gets filled with smoke”.

“There is no control over the scrap burning. It’s mostly plastic and electronic waste, like computers, mobile, etc. The waste comes from the scrap market in Dharavi and unwanted things are thrown here on mangrove land,” he said. Dhoira too said local residents have approached the police several times, but “there is no one to check these illegal activities”.

“The entire sky is black. We are not able to breath.”

Responsibility Or Compliance

Globally, 50 million tons of e-waste gets generated annually and increasing rapidly. Interestingly, this so called ‘Waste’ is of great significance & value, commonly termed as Urban Mine. Broadly, e-waste consists of 92%-95% recoverable and reusable commodities including precious & rare earth metals, technically entire 100% is recoverable but because of the higher cost of recovery these elements go for disposal as hazardous substances. In other words, 50 million tons of e-waste consists of more or less 15 million tons of steel (more than annual production of SAIL), 4 million tons of aluminum, 6 million tons of copper over & above glass, plastic, silver, gold, palladium, platinum, iridium etc. In spite of so resource rich, 70-80% of low value e-scrap goes in land fill because of high cost of recycling in the developed nations and in case of developing nations 95% is treated unscientifically because of lack of willingness to invest in environment friendly practices. Effectively, both the sets of countries are equally harming the environment and polluting air, water & soil and finally we breathe in polluted air, drink contaminated water and eat polluted food.

To reproduce the above commodities, we need to go deeper in to the mines and excavate in multiples to produce required quantities of respective commodities, invest in infrastructure, use billion of units of electricity, millions of man years, generate carbon foot print. The above certainly justifies that scientific recycling of end of life electrical & electronic equipment is the best way to generate “Resources” rather than mining further.

It is evident that demand of such gadgets will continue to increase because of change in technology, status & style. The incremental demand of computing & communication devices are the barometers of socio-economic development.?Therefore, I strongly believe that we should not bother about the increase in the quantum of e-waste but focus on the systematic collection till disposal, which does not harm in any way.

Man made products have certain life cycle and at the same time natural resources are not available in proportion to our need & greed, therefore we must realize that recycling is a parallel industry and we must act faster. It becomes more important if we look at the several other indirect benefits of proper recycling over & above cleaner & greener environment like better health lesser medical needs, higher productivity lesser price, lesser investment in recycling facilities as compared to the infrastructure industries to produce same commodities, least mining & the least impact on equilibrium.?

It is equally visible that cost of collecting back discarded equipment is always not commercially viable because of the lower recovery value of the commodities and many a times that leads to paper Compliance as against Responsible Recycling at higher cost. Primarily because majority of the generators of e-waste expects high value of such waste and also expect the recyclers must take away from their door steps & process at their costs & expenses, barring a few, who loves safer environment.

This attitude gives birth to unorganized dismantler, who does not care for the environment and openly burn or dilute several items in acids/ other hazardous chemicals to recover metals. Here comes the need of stricter implementation of the Environment Protection Act & relevant Rules. I wish to submit that for the sustainable supply of commodities and greener environment, we have to adopt better practices and should not wait for the nature to react adversely. For the desired results, following should be effectively put in place:

1. Liability: GOD-Generator (Producers), Operator (Bulk Consumers) & Destroyer (Recyclers) has to play roles as expected.
2. Legislation: Stricter implementation of the Rules to check e-waste reaches for Recycling only.
3. Logistic: Shared Collection & Warehousing Network needs to be put in place to control costs.
4. Liquidity: Monetary Support from the Government for Reverse Logistics & Recycling infrastructure to get established.

To undertake Responsible Recycling of e-waste, the Recyclers (who are actually the only intermediary between the Regulators & Producers), the Government must consider “Package of Incentives” which should include land on long term lease or at a nominal price, subsidy, tax holiday, loan at subsidized rate, infrastructure status to the industry etc. Also, the Producers needs to follow the global practice of Polluter Pays. It may sound funny to read but the fact remains, presently many large generators & producers wants that the Recycling Facility must be as per the Global Standards but rather than paying for such services they look for monetary value as prevailing in Seelampur!?

Thanks for your time.

B K Soni, Chairman & MD, Eco Recycling Ltd,

www.ecoreco.com, [email protected]