Paper and cardboard recycle industries wholly depend on the collection of scrap from households, offices and colleges. The pandemic has affected the sale of newspapers, due to which the industry is on the verge of collapse.
Delhi | Ghaziabad: Around 400 scrap suppliers’ shops have been shut in the Delhi NCR area as the collection of scrap has come down severely. More than a thousand scrap collectors work on daily wages and are not getting paid enough to sustain their livelihood.
“All factories were closed and no production took place since the beginning of the lockdown from March 22 till June 15,” said Amir Chand, who runs a paper recycling factory.
Suppliers and collectors say that the collection of scrap has come down from 40 kg per day to 15 kg per day and the price has declined from Rs. 3-4 per kg to Rs. 2.5-3 per kg.
“We manage to make a profit of Rs. 1.5 per kg of the scarp,” said Saddam, a Ghaziabad-based dealer who used to employ four scrap collectors before the lockdown and has to manage with two after the lockdown.
The stakeholders were hopeful for a boom in the next four to six months but the rising cases of Covid 19 have shaken their confidence and have left the industry in limbo.
Keywords: scrap industry, lockdown, covid, recycle
