At the national conference on Circular Economy in Tyre and Rubber Industry organized by World’s first policy and development media The Policy Times, in collaboration with Apollo Tyres Ltd and Continentals Tyres as Technical partners, JK tyres as Knowledge partner, Recykal as a Sustainability partner, and Fornnax Recycling, TINNA, AIRTRA, MRAI, Rekart, ECOEX, Greenscape as the associate partners, industry leaders have gathered on exchanged their views with policymakers, regulators to understand the EPR draft and implementation roadmap of the policy which will be announced shortly.
More than 300+ industry leaders from Tyre and Rubber manufacturers, companies, and recyclers joined together in a national conference on “ Circular Economy In Tyre and Rubber Industry” Friday 15th July 2022 in New Delhi. Where they have discussed the EPR draft policy and understand the role that different stakeholders have to play.
In the Inaugural Session, Honorable Minister of State Gen (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd) The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways & Civil Aviation Government of India was the chief guest and shared special remarks on how to use creative methodologies on how to use waste tyres or how to ensure that the recycling becomes eco-friendly. The Government of India is working on a new law to recycle tyres and that could change the way tyre manufacturer and the industry works in the long run. The tyre manufacturers and importers including waste tyre need to ensure that all the products are recycled to government standards and they have until 2024th to comply with it. We have to find a methodology by which the pollution caused by the waste tyres can be stopped.
Shri Ved Prakash Mishra, Director – HSM Division MoEF&CC, Govt. of India shares his views on making our environment clean. Our collective goal should be environmentally clean. Recycling is its service to our earth. Because it not only cleans our environment, not only prevents the environment waste from damaging the environment but also provides raw materials to infectious. So, the environment helps the tire and rubber industry. If we are compelled to EC then that EC will be used for the development of the sector. This will be our commitment and we will try to use it for the promotion of the technology of recycling or for the promotion of the industry. Shri Anand Kumar, Director & Head, WM-III Division Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) conveyed that there are a total of 100 companies that manufacture rubber crumbs and we have more than 700 industries that are in the entire pyrolysis. We are generating about 12 to 18 tons of waste tyre. We have to focus on the environment. If we focus on all these three aspects like environmentally sound recycling, environmentally sound transportation or storage or handling, and helping the manufacturers, it will lead to a very fruitful and successful policy.
Mr. VK Misra, Technical Director, JK Tyres & Industries Ltd. expressed that contrary to the global scenario, we do not have any waste tyre and every kg is consumed in various processes in India. The important aspect is the proper use of end-of-life tyres which are environmentally friendly. We need to collectively plan steps to ensure this and find solutions to hurdles to which we are expected considering not an organized process. While it is important to generalize the disposal of waste tyres, it is even more important to recover raw material from these which would be true circularity. Currently, in India, the recovery is very limited and we need to work towards getting support from the government. A lot of work is happening to recover carbon black, a key material for the rubber industry and polymer as well. This is the area that requires a large investment in various adequate technology. Mr. P. K. Mohamed, Chief Advisor R&D, Apollo Tyres Ltd, spoke about the quality of recycled material produced in the country through pyrolysis, grinding, and reclamation processes and calls for upgradation. He expressed that the focus of ELT management should be to convert ELT into high-value-added recyclable material and support the circular economy. Global efforts are underway for the up-gradation of carbon black and crumb produced by pyrolysis through chemical and physical surface modifications to enhance interaction with virgin rubber. Among the available methods, the de-Vulc method is one of the best methods to convert tyres into high-quality raw materials. He also concluded that total cultural change is needed in our approach toward recycling processes and ELT management.
Our next spokesperson Dr. Saikat Das Gupta, Chief Scientist- Vice President, HASETRI, Mysuru conveyed his views on the Circular Economy of Tyres. He conveyed that an established ELT management and the positive environmental impacts of using ELTs as a resource will evolve the Tyre industry from a “Linear to a Circular ” Economy. Next Spokesperson Mr. Vishesh Agarwal, Vice President – Crumbs & Reclaim Rubber Division AIRTRA expressed his views on the “Vision of tyre recycling in 2030 in India ”. He proclaimed that World is now shifting to pyrolysis. In order to make the recycling industry robust we need to ensure a 10-year long-term government policy on economies of scale, markets for recycled products, financial support, and support from stakeholders. This will ensure entrepreneurs adopt new technologies and grow the recycling industry and will ensure India remains ahead of the curve.
This is followed by another session addressed by Mr. Gaurav Sekhri, Managing Director, Tinna Group, Dr. Rakesh Kumar, OSD-CSIR Director CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, and Mr. Satish Goyal, Vice President – Tyre Pyrolysis Division AIRTRA, Mr. Amar Singh, Secretary General, Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI), Mr. Robert Weibold, Founder & MD, Robert Weibold GmbH, Austria, Mr. Jalpan Dave, Regional Head, Sustainability Solutions, Recykal, Mr. Jignesh Kundariya, Director of Fornnax Recycling, Dr. Rakesh Kumar, OSD-CSIR Director CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, Mr. V Sivaramakrishnan, Chief Technology Officer TVS Srichakra Ltd.
And the last session is followed by India’s leading plastic and e-waste recyclers including Mr. Anurag Tiwari, Director, Rekart Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Paras Gupta, Head EPR Sustainability and Marketing, Gem Enviro Management Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Ashok Kumar, Vice Chairman, Greenscape Eco Management Pvt. Ltd., and Mr. Ritvik Rao, Co-founder & Director, Sampurnearth Environment Solution Pvt. Ltd.
The Conference was organised in collaboration with Apollo Tyres Ltd and Continentals Tyres as Technical partners, JK Tyres as Knowledge partner, Recykal as a Sustainability partner, and Fornnax Recycling, TINNA, AIRTRA, MRAI, Rekart, ECOEX, Greenscape as the associate partners.
The Policy Times is aiming to organize another largest national conference on EPR policy in Tyre & Rubber Industry.
The Policy Times (www.thepolicytimes.com) is the world’s first media on policy and development journalism and a strategic and practical Alliance of Policy and Business experts for policy and business connect leading to prosperity through news and article writings, practical networking, Events, Business intelligence, research and policy advocacy.
