MCQ Questions

Questions

Practice mode — a mixed feed of questions and articles for each subject. Prefer reading first? Browse the Articles index instead →

Articles

Study mode — the full article library for each subject, no practice questions mixed in. Want to practice instead? Browse Questions by subject →

Metal Recycling in India

India wants to nearly triple its steel output by 2030. It doesn’t have nearly enough scrap metal at home to make that happen on its own.

India’s Metal Recycling, By The Numbers

EnvEco0033

300 MT

Steel Capacity Target, 2030

70–80 MT

Scrap Needed a Year

To hit that target, well above today’s supply

Registered Scrapping Facilities

Under the Vehicle Scrappage Policy, so far

~7 MT

Scrap Imported a Year

To fill the gap left by domestic supply

The goal: replace imported scrap with domestic scrap, so India’s steel growth doesn’t depend on buying its raw material from abroad.

📑 Contents

Metal recycling in India runs mainly through steel, aluminium, and copper scrap.
The Steel Scrap Recycling Policy, 2019 (Ministry of Steel) promotes Metal Scrapping Centres. It formalises the collection, dismantling, and processing of scrap.
The Vehicle Scrappage Policy, 2021 retires old, unfit vehicles through Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities (RVSFs). Scrapped vehicles feed high-grade ferrous scrap back into steel production.
India still imports a meaningful share of its steel scrap. Reducing that import dependency is a stated national goal.

The National Steel Policy, 2017 targets 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030. Meeting that will need 70 to 80 million tonnes of scrap a year, well above today’s supply.
Domestic scrap supply currently runs around 25 million tonnes a year. Roughly another 7 million tonnes gets imported to fill the gap.
RVSFs are still a young system. Only 62 have been registered so far, though roughly a third of those began as informal scrapyards that formalised into it.
When a vehicle is formally scrapped, its RVSF issues a Certificate of Deposit and a Certificate of Scrapping, both logged on the government’s VAHAN database.

Don’t confuse the two metal-specific policies. The Steel Scrap Recycling Policy is the general scrap-sourcing and processing framework. The Vehicle Scrappage Policy is one specific feeder stream into it — old vehicles, not scrap metal generally.
From April 2026, EPR extends to non-ferrous metals too: aluminium, copper, zinc, and their alloys. See EnvEco0030 — Recycling in India for that detail, and for recycling across all sectors.
For solid and hazardous waste regulation more broadly, see EnvEco0011 — Solid and Hazardous Waste.