This was stated by Mahfooz Elahi, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) in a statement issued here Friday.

He said that government should also establish a network of scrap yards which could act as a source of input material for remanufacturing and recycling industry.

He stressed that government should support small and medium sized enterprises in developing remanufacturing and recycling plants. These plants could be set up in different areas including steel, auto, synthetic, plastic, paper & rubber sectors to develop value added products from scrap, he added. Mahfooz Elahi

was of the view that remanufacturing industry was also consuming less energy as compared to industrial units as only 5 percent energy was required to re-melt aluminum than to extract it from the ore.

He said that millions of computer accessories and electronic items join scrap dumps and pose a challenge for effective disposal.

However,promoting of remanufacturing & recycling industry could easily exploit its scrap to develop products of better value.

The ICCI President said that the remanufacturing and recycling industry could also provide a substantial boost to the manufacturing sector and the whole economy in terms of cuts in imports and unemployment and production of cheap products. It would be an effective way to meet the environmental challenges posed by the generation of scrap and waste.

Therefore, government should give due priority to the promotion of this industry, he stressed.

Copyright PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2011