The Man Turning Scrap Into Gold

Getting his hands dirty rummaging through steel scrap is something Mayank Maheshwari enjoys doing every single day. In fact, he feels most at home when he's in the midst of a steel dump yard in Sharjah.

Now he can be found in one of the company's two sheds where 47 workers clean construction debris, metal cans and other metal scrap that comes from household waste. They cut, resize and reclaim the metal before it is then compressed, packaged and sent to steel mills around the world to be used in manufacturing new steel.

In simple terms, the business he deals in is waste. But he is proud to be working in the scrap metal recycling business because not only is he preventing a lot of rubbish from accumulating in landfills and polluting the earth, he is happy converting waste metal into something useful - and business is booming.

"Around 3,000 metric tonnes of waste metal per month is sent from the UAE to countries such as India, Oman and Pakistan where demand for waste steel scrap is high. Our new business plan is to take this figure to 20,000 metric tonnes per month and help transform more waste into valuable resources. We recently began sending small quantities to UAE-based steel manufacturers as well.

Strong growth

The British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA) estimates that close to 400 million tonnes of metal are recycled worldwide each year. This includes steel, aluminium and copper. "Although no official estimates exist for steel recycling alone, I estimate that 60-65 per cent of metals recycled are iron and steel,'' he says.

There is no difference in quality between steel manufactured from scrap versus iron ore. In fact, steel plants that use scrap metals tend to be more economical to set up and run. "Metals constitute one of the largest portions of landfill waste globally. However, they also have the highest value when recycled," Mayank says.

"Steel scrap and recycling is one of the oldest recycling industries, and scrap metal is one of the UAE's most important commodity exports. Some of the largest containers being shipped out of Jebel Ali Port are full of scrap waste. But we need to get this sector more organised," says Mayank, who used to collect cans from his friends at school by offering them 25 fils a can. He'd then hand them to his father for recycling in return for a few dirhams.   

Mayank's plan is to introduce greater automation in recycling technologies, increase transparency with government agencies and encourage more involvement by local communities in recycling. He says that the forward-thinking government of the UAE has already started to push for environmental change and awareness but that local entrepreneurs like him will play a key role in helping the government.

The next big step for him is for a plan that he has already presented to the government. He hopes to automate the recycling process, reduce manual labour and make it more technologically intense in order to save time. He is also looking into processing other waste by-products such as wood, paper, glass and other biodegradable waste in the UAE.

"These initiatives will hopefully be in tandem with the government's Vision 2030 where 100 per cent of the waste going to landfills will become recyclable," says Mayank.

Steel manufacturers today realise the importance of integrating steel scrap into their production processes to lower costs and improve sustainability.

"Steel scrap is a highly recycled commodity around the world, everywhere from America to Zimbabwe. The only difference is in how professional and regulated recycling tends to be from country to country," Mayank says. "Countries like the US, Germany and Japan are highly sophisticated recyclers compared to those in the developing world.''

"Thanks to companies like ours as well as to local municipalities, less than one per cent of scrap metal is sent to landfills in the UAE."

Henan Honest Heavy Machinery : http://www.honestshredder.com/，All rights reserved。