ISRI leadership spent this week in India fortifying relationships with the governments and partnership organizations. ISRI Chair Brian Shine, President Robin Wiener, and staff traveled to New Delhi where they met with the U.S. Commercial Service - the U.S. government’s representatives responsible for supporting U.S. commercial interests in India. Officials pledged to work closely with ISRI to promote U.S. scrap exports to India. The ISRI team also met with the Bureau of Indian Standards regarding the incorporation of ISRI Specifications in their work, and with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change about the distinctions between scrap and waste and the critical importance of the use of scrap in manufacturing.
While in India, ISRI also participated in the 6th International Materials Recycling Conference in Kochi, organized by ISRI partner Materials Recycling Association of India (MRAI). The event attracted more than 1,000 attendees from India and around the world to network, buy/sell scrap, and learn about future trends in India. Speakers focused on the opportunities across metals, paper and plastics. It is clear that India’s sustained high economic growth and infrastructure development forms the basis for trade growth opportunities. The government is also in the final stages of developing a national recycling policy that we anticipate will both raise the level of recycling within India while also generate trade.