MRAI Metal Recycling Awareness Conference…..
MRAI’s Recycling Conference deliberate threadbare the significance of recycling which is key to reducing energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission and help the planet conserve its mineral wealth
Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) the apex body of all regional metal recycling associations in India, having more than 700 members representing Ferrous & Non-Ferrous metal recycling trade in India, recently organised a“Metal Recycling Awareness Conference” at Novotel Hotel, Pune on 29th August 2017.
The conference was jointly organised in association with The Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF), GDC Tech Forum and Aluminium Extruders’ Council (ALEX).
Among the distinguished speakers who presented their speech includes Sanjay Mehta, President, MRAI, Dhawal Shah, Vice President, MRAI, Dr. Kishore Rajpurohit, Executive Committee Member, MRAI, Mr. SubodhPanchal, Past President of IIF and Managing Partner of Kastwell Foundries, Mr S H Arjunwadkar, Chairman of IIF – NCTS, R.T. Kulkarni, Vice Chairman, GDC Tech Forum, Sunil Atravalkar, Consultant, Aluminium Recycling &Remelting etc.
More than 100 delegates from secondary ferrous and non-ferrous manufacturers, metal scrap importers, indenting agents, traders, recyclers, foundries, aluminium alloys and ingots manufacturers, die-castings units, metallurgy faculties and students were among the audiences at the meet.
Mr.Dhawal Shah, Vice President, Metal Recycling Association of India acknowledged the whole-hearted support extended bySubodhPanchal, Past President of IIF, S.H. Arjunwadkar, Chairman of IIF-NCTS, , R.T. Kulkarni, Vice Chairman, GDC Tech Forum, MRAI Vice President – Mr. Dhawal Shah, &Mr.EhsanGadawala, all MRAI committee members. He also welcomed the support of scrap metal recycling traders and its associate industry who have spared their valuable time to attend this conference.
In his welcome speech, Dhawal Shah highlighted the purpose of organising the Metal Recycling Awareness Conference at Pune. He said MRAI is aiming to lower energy consumption, reduce greenhouse emissions and help preserve the planet’s natural resources. Mr. Shah highlighted that the theme of the conference was to create more awareness about importance of metal recycling among scrap metal trading community, recyclers and scrap metal procurement companies like foundries, automobile, die-casting and aluminium extrusion based recyclers. He urged the audience to work with far sighted vision to make MRAI the national body representing the interests of secondary metal trade in India. He also explained the purpose of bringing together all metal recycling traders, scrap metal procurement industry stakeholders together for networking and developing their businesses.
Further, he discussed on the core issues faced by the scrap metal recycling traders, the recycling policy, metal demand & supply in India and the international market and called upon the government to address the same.He appreciated the sizeable gathering at the Awareness Conference.
He expressed his sincere gratitude towards the Institute of Indian Foundrymen, GDC Tech Forum, ALEX, COEP, Scrap Metal Traders for extending their wholehearted support to the conference.
Mr.Shah explained the various benefits accruing from recycling and its related trade issues. He underscored the importance ofliaising with various government authorities/ministrieswhich will help scrap traders, procurement companies to minimize the transaction cost. To extend such benefits for the metal recycling and procurement companies, MRAI have decided to create more interactive platforms for the industry, Shah stated. He also mentioned that MRAI was instrumental in abolishing import duties on all grades of metal scrap.
He further explained the benefits of associating with MRAI since it’s connected with global bodies such as Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries) and other associations like BMRA in UK and BMR, Dubai. Its association helps in formal mediation between buyers and sellers in case of trade disputes.
At the opening remark, Mr.SanjayMehta, President, MRAI eulogized about the benefits of metal recycling.
“As we all know, there are lot of benefits – both environmental & economical – compared to producing metal through primary route using ores. For example, for putting up a secondary metal producing unit, it requires low investment, lesser resources & lesser time compared to putting up an integrated steel plant of same capacity, which requires land acquisition, huge investment& finance from consortium of banks,” Mehta said
Similarly, he said there are many other advantages like environmental benefits in secondary sector, less energy consumption, saving of water, natural resources, considerable reduction in CO2 emissions by using scrap instead of ores.
An introductory film was shown to the large audience. Mr. Mehta strongly emphasized that finished products like TMT bars, angles/channels, etc. produced by the secondary sector are not well accepted in government tenders and projects citing manufacturing process being adopted by the recyclers, althoughthe products are conforming to the prescribed quality standards. This is a discriminatory attitude of the government in favour of primary producers.
Mehta further said that with MRAI’s strong intervention & regular follow-ups, the government has abolished secondary-primary-captive steel producer’s classification and every producer in the steel industry is classified as a steel producer. But, now our task is to change the mindset of Central Government and State Government policy makers.
Talking about MRAI representation with the Ministry of Steel and NitiAayog, he said that MRAI has urged the ministry to give them a level playing field on par with primary producers.
After persistent efforts, MRAI and JPC (Joint Plant Committee) part of Ministry of Steel, recently conducted a study on India’s ferrous & non ferrous scrap collection, consumption and generation.Till now there was no official data available with the government on India’s metal recycling sector. Earlier, a study report was published by MRAI on Indian Metal Scrap Market in association with the knowledge partner, Frost and Sullivan which explained the nitty-gritty of metal recycling and trade.
Mehta said that the association not only caters to the needs of importers but also every recycler, metal manufacturer engaged in buying or selling of any grade of metal scrap in India. It also caters to all relevant metal scrap procurement industries as well.
In short, he said the huge growth andsuccess of MRAI lies in an able leadership with committed team of executive committee members who work relentlessly to achieve the goals for which MRAI stands for. It is the success of team work of all MRAI committee members,he quipped.
He said that every metal scrap user has to be part of this Association. Whether he is engaged in trading in any kind of metal scrap, whether he is a broker, a producer of any grade of metals, or casting manufacturer, machinery manufacturer or those engaged in the metal business must be a member of this august body.
Mr Mehta also requested all casting manufacturers/ extrusion industry stakeholders, to apprise MRAI of any issue faced by them so that it could take up their grievances to the concerned authorities for redressal. He urged all attending delegates to get registered with MRAI soon to multiply their business.
Towards the end, Mr. Sanjay Mehta also emphasized that the time has come to have one single and strong Recycling Association on all India level to enhance the energy efficiency, protect our natural resources and extend support to Prime Minister NarendraModi’s mission of “Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan”.
Dr Kishore Rajpurohit, Executive Committee Member of MRAI and Director, SFC Global Commodities presented various issues like import duty on metal scrap, SAD (Special Additional Duty), FTA (Free trade agreements) with ASEAN countries, PSIC issues, inconsistent / wrong method of valuation of scrap by customs, non-clearance of scrap at all ports and exorbitant charges by shipping companies on scrap importers.
He further elaborated about the progress of MRAI by taking up these issues faced by metal recyclers with the Ministry of Steel, Mines, MOEF, CBEC, Ministry of Commerce, DG Shipping and Ports by conducting several rounds of meetings with the concerned officials. He said that it has really helped its members minimise the transaction cost. He further stated that the government should accord industry status as we are all engaged in metal recycling activities in India.
He said “The most recent issueis of TCS on domestic scrap trading, since now GST has been implemented, we are hopeful it will be scrapped in a few month’s time. He also expressed the concern about lack of Recycling Zones where scrap collectors, processors, manufacturers and all connected ancillaries can be accommodated in same zone.
SubodhPanchal, Past President, IIF and Partner of Kastwell Foundries presented his views on how to increase productivity by way of innovation and clusterwiseapproach. “In fact, we both (Foundry and MRAI) are doing metal recycling and value addition and creating better atmosphere for cleaner environment” he explained.
At the end, SubodhPanchal elaborated on how IIF & MRAI can work together in changing the image of Metal Melting Industry to extend their support towards India’s mission of reducing carbon emission. He also invited all MRAI Member to attend 66th Indian Foundry Congress, an Indo-Global Foundry Summit, being held between 10th to 12th January 2018 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Mr.R.TKulkarni, Vice Chairman and Mr.R V Apshankar, Hon. Secretary, GDT Tech Forum presented their views on how their association would extend support to MRAI’s Metal Recycling Awareness campaign to minimise carbon emission and protect the natural resources. On behalf of GDC Tech, Mr. R T Kulkarni also invited MRAI Members to participate at GDC Tech Forum exhibition being held between 5th to 7th October 2017 at Nehru Centre, Mumbai.
Mr. Sunil Atrawalkar, Consultant for Aluminium Recycling and Remelting,while presenting his views on scrap metal, said that it is the cheapest source of raw material for aluminium end uses. Therefore, every effort is being made to utilise scrap to the extent possible, he said. The scrap content is decided based on the final chemistry the melter desires & quality requirementsexplained byS Sunil Atwalkar.
Sham Arjunwadkar, Chaiman, IIF – National Centre for Technical Services (NCTS) praised MRAI initiative with NitiAayog indrafting the recycling policy. He also presented his views on Indian foundry industry and its strategy to extend support to achieve India’s mission towards carbon emission, energy efficiency and keeping the production cost at a minimal level.
Vote of thanks was presented by Mr. Vijay Agarwal, Executive Committee Member of MRAI and Director, ShriHari Extrusion Pvt.Ltd. Mr.Agarwalwelcomed MRAI views, and spoke about the difficultiesfaced by recyclers in the secondary metals trade.
