Waste Paper Recycling : India

According to the IARPMA, Paper mills can be broadly divided into three types 

 

1. Wood pulp based mills ( 31 % )
2. Agro residue based mills (non-wood based segment) ( 22 % )
3. Waste paper based mills ( 47 % )

In India more than 500 mills make use of waste paper as the main raw material for making paper, paper-board. Waste paper is collected indigenously and also imported. In India, every year around 13 million tonnes of waste paper is produced, and India only able to recover 25% of it. This means that nearly 9.75 million tons of paper reaches landfills and is lost forever. When we compare this with other countries, the amount is comparatively very low. For instance in Germany it is 73%, Sweden 69%, Japan 60%, Western Europe 56%, USA 49% and Italy 45 %.

Imports of waste paper increasing

Indian mills have to import waste paper because of lack of proper mechanism and technology for collection & segregation. 50% of industry's requirement of waste paper is met through import which is on increase.  In 1981, the import of waste paper was US$5 million which rose to US$ 1 billion in 2012. India imports around 4.0 million tonnes of waste paper every year. This is not a good picture for the Indian economy.

Recycle paper….Why?

Did you know?

1. Recycled paper produces 73% less air pollution than if it was made from raw materials.
2. It takes 24 trees to make 1 ton of newspaper.
3. Use of energy is much less in recycling paper than making new paper.
4. According to research studies, recycling one tonne of waste paper can help in about 70% raw material saving along with coal saving of 60%, energy 43% and water 70% which are used in the making of paper from wood.

So let us start harnessing waste paper at home.

Problems in collection

In spite of the fact that the Government, paper mills and NGOs are concentrating on development of collection and recycling programme, with focus on the environment, there are some grey areas in the collection of waste paper in India.

• Lack of large space for storage, sorting of waste paper.
• No proper coordination between the informal sector and the main supply chain of waste paper to paper industry.
• No effective collection mechanism for waste paper from offices and households.
• Use of newspaper for packaging.
• Role of municipalities is not efficient in the current waste management network.

What can be done?

So far, in India, waste paper recycling is done by the unorganized and informal sector, which constitutes the kabaaris, rag-pickers, middlemen and the business houses.

A proper collection and recycling of waste paper can definitely help in reducing the generation of municipal solid wastes. Some options that can be considered are as follow:

• Formulating a policy on management of waste paper in accordance with E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011.
• The guidelines and procedures for the producers, collection centres and the recyclers should be formulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
• Proper locations should be allocated for development of sorting centres or warehouses for sorting, baling and storage of waste paper.
• The collection centres should be run by the municipalities, but the work should be handed over to the private companies.
• Regulations should be made to compulsorily use shredders by all offices, educational institutes and the shredded waste paper should be collected through contractual agreements on an annual basis.