India’s waste and scrap import up by 76%

According to an industry report released earlier this week, India’s import of waste and scrap materials has increased by 76% in value terms to USD 12.5 billion in 2020-21 from USD 7.1 in 2014-15.

According to a report by the MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai, an international trade promotion organisation, India’s share of global scrap imports doubled to 8% in a decade as Asia’s third-largest economy imported 39 scrap and waste materials ranging from metals to battery cells, recycled paper, textile, rubber, and plastic products.

India lacks a well organized scrap recycling sector that uses scientific scrap collection, segregation, dismantling, and recycling methods. As a result, its recycling rate is much lower than the global average, according to Xinhua news agency. For instance, India’s recycling rate for aluminum, copper and zinc is 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent compared to the global average of 98 percent, 82 percent and 30 percent, respectively.