Education & Accountability Are Important Aspects For Recycling: Masood Mallick

Integrating waste collectors more effectively in India's waste management system remains one of the major challenges facing the country even today. In many developing countries, including India, waste collection and material recycling activities are mainly carried out by the informal waste sector. 

To discuss the major aspect of recycling in India, Masood Mallick, Joint Managing Director, Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd was joined by Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor in Chief, BW Businessworld & Founder, Exchange4Media in a fireside chat at the BW Recycling Awards and Conclave 2022. 

Explaining the policy framework, Mallick said, “There is already a beginning that has been made. Our thinking and our policymakers are right on top of the scale of this opportunity. Five trillion economy that honorable prime ministers talked about, the 500 billion dollar opportunity is the circular economy in recycling. “ 

“We would require a framework which is well-defined and talk about all commodities, not just plastics. Every manufacturer and every consumer should know that a polluter has to pay and larger the pollution larger will be the tax. EPR is just an indirect tax. It's an environmental tax. And therefore every manufacturer has a responsibility to ensure that its materials end of life after use will be managed responsibly.” he added.

“We already have rules in place, we are also coming up with new rules but all is depending on how quickly they get enforced and implemented.  Beyond just putting the responsibility on the industry and the consumer, the government should come with policies that provide viability Gap funding as well as access to lower-cost Capital to this particular set.” He added further. 

It is noteworthy, the participation of formal waste management enterprises remains low, mainly due to insufficient funding, lack of legal guidance, low regional development and lack of tacit information about sustainable waste management businesses. 

Talking about steps at the individual level, Mallick maintained, “The segregation is source is absolutely the key. Today we segregate the waste in almost 44-45 commodities. But, we are not asking for people to segregate waste into 44-45 Commodities, but the least that each one of us can do is Gila and Sukha (Wet and dry). And this one little magic step will completely magically unlock the potential.” 

“We need to educate the building block of the nation- Children. If we educate them at basic level, this will lead to change in greater magnitude. We need to engage with our schools and educational institutions to make this a mainstream movement.” He added.