Organizations in all sectors including the Private and the Government procure paper. When these organizations, that often require paper as a raw material, do so in huge quantum, the paper conversion industry and key suppliers of paper come in. The paper conversion industry is growing at a rapid CAGR of 9.1 percent, and the size of the global market for converted paper products is anticipated to increase from $512.98 billion in 2021 to $559.66 billion in 2022. PaperEkart has recently begun its journey in this industry and has received an overwhelmingly welcome from various business houses due to its revolutionary capability of bringing transparency to the entire paper eco- system. It is the first start-up in the world to undertake such a venture, thus becoming an extremely popular paper marketplace.

The Start-up works as a multivendor B2B marketplace that supports several businesses in buying and selling various kinds of paper including Duplex paper, SBS paper, Kraft paper and so on. It is well equipped in bringing together various stakeholders including paper mills, stockiest and paper convertors together for delivering paper that may be used in multiple industries, like in Textile, FMCG, Pharma and the like. The purpose that Paper Ekart is most known for, is coordinating very effectively with all stakeholders in the industry, which leads to reduction in waiting time for businesses that need paper. The company has developed its own app, maintains a website and effectively sees that it always has the capacity to bridge service gaps in a fragmented industry as the paper ecosystem. 

A Wide Range of Services

“PaperEkart provides benefit to both paper buyers and sellers by increasing transparency, meeting urgent demand and offloading unused stock which otherwise may lay for months. Its other services include listing the paper converting industry machines both new and used and, selling spare parts of various machines and it also manages advertisement services making the platform one place for all paper converting industry needs shares Manish Beria, Co-Founder, PaperEkart.

Apart from these, it also has educational content on its website in the form of blog posts that educate people on everything in regard to the paper Industry. It has started with a monthly newsletter covering current industry updates including events and news. It is also helping to create a credit rating system for buyers and help the financial mediator in the paper industry, so that trade hap- pens in a fast yet trustworthy manner.

The venture started in 2021 in Vapi, Gujarat with seven members as its employees, however, most of the core team including Co-Founders Manish Beria and Bikash Agrawal and CTO Shamim Iqbal have years of experience in the paper industry. It quickly became popular among both paper mill corrugators and businesses that require paper (Paper Ekart made it easy for corrugators to list their extra stock). Now the plan is to expand its operations in India and to introduce new, beneficial schemes for the customers. It is especially trying to introduce Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes for its customers, as this will help eliminate credit risk as Paper Ekart will coordinate between the parties that are buying and selling. Already having tie-ups with 45 paper mills in Vapi and having offices in Surat, Mumbai, and Vasai, it is set to open up offices in Jodhpur and Delhi. Paper Ekart is planning to facilitate import and export of paper, paper converting machinery, consumables and after sale service in the future.

300 acres of land already allotted for project at Dherand in Raigad district.

The Maharashtra state cabinet committee for industries on Thursday gave approval to projects worth Rs 25,000 crore, which includes a Rs 20,000-crore pulp paper manufacturing project in Raigad.

The third meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee of industries department was held on Thursday in which a project worth Rs 20,000 crore of Sinar Mas Pulp paper manufacturing project in Raigad district was approved along with some other projects. The MoU for the project was signed earlier during the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Earlier the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government received flak from the Opposition for losing the multibillion dollar Vedanta-Foxconn project to Gujarat from Maharashtra.

According to officials, the Cinnar Mas Pulp and Paper Pvt. Ltd. (Asia Paper and Pulp) is the largest paper manufacturing industry in Asia and it will be making an investment of Rs 20,000 crore for the first time in India and that too in Maharashtra.

The Rs 20,000 crore will be invested in two phases and accordingly, 300 acres of land has already been allotted for this project at Dherand in Raigad district, and the government intends to provide more land as per the demand of the project.

The government has also announced that Gencrest Bio Products Private Ltd group will be setting up a Rs 650 crore industrial unit to manufacture various products out of banana waste at Khadki Kinhi (Bhusawal) in Jalgaon district. An official said it is the only patent holder industry of this kind of product in the world and it is implementing this project in the world based on eco-friendly technology.

In the meeting, they also accepted the proposal of the state high-powered committee to keep the annual average subsidy payment limit of 12.5 per cent for the industries such as Fiat India Automobiles Ltd Pune, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd in Nashik, Jindal Polyfilm Ltd in Nashik and JSW Dolvi, Raigad.

Meanwhile, in order to give boost to the industrial sector of Maharashtra, which slowed down due to Covid-19, the State Cabinet Sub-Committee for Industries has decided to extend the period of industrial incentive grant by two years to approve the incentive claims of the industries in the state, who could not file their refund claims earlier.

The officials further said that, considering the recommendations made earlier by the committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary in accordance with the various demands of the entities in the state, the Cabinet Sub-Committee has also decided to give benefits to the different industry units in 11 cases in the context of incentives and other demands.

European recyclers are making an urgent plea to shadow rapporteurs as revised EU rules threaten to severely impact trade of recycled materials risking irreversible economic damage and job losses to Europe’s leading circular economy industries.

Talking to The Pulp and Paper Times over a phone call, Mr. Marc Ehrlich, CEO, VIPA Group says, the new EU Waste Shipment Regulation has been under development for many years now and is under final stages at the EU Parliament level. We believe it could pass the vote at the EU parliament in early 2023. There will be after that some further process between the parliament and the EU Commission, which makes it difficult to predict the date of implementation of the new law and the transition period which is also under discussion.

He further says that the new law will make it extremely difficult to ship recovered paper from Europe into India. This will combine three levels, first - All streams are considered as “waste”. There is no favorable treatment for non problematic streams (recovered paper that can not harm the environment, copper with a value of USD 10’000/to) as compared to problematic streams like mixed waste plastic. Everything is “waste”.

Second, the country of destination (India for example) will need to demonstrate its ability to receive the “waste” and need to prepare all the appropriate evidence and documentation on that. This will be reviewed and evaluated by the EU Commission. I would like to underline that the same administration took about 6 months in 2022 to correct in their database a typing mistake done by the Indian government. We can with no doubt say that we are in the “right” hands !

Current proposals for the revision of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation threaten to "decimate" the European recycling industry, warns the umbrella organisation Euric. Almost 80 per cent of metal recyclers and more than 70 per cent of recovered paper recyclers expect a decrease in turnover as a result of the provisions currently under consideration. As many as half expect to have to cut jobs, the European Recycling Industries' Confederation (Euric) reported in September. According to the association, the industry as a whole currently provides more than 300,000 green jobs that cannot be offshored, and has an annual turnover of around €95bn.

 
“And last, the receiver of the “waste”, the paper mill will need to be audited to attest broadly equivalent standards. We do not know what those standards are exactly. Will that cover also CO2 emissions for example ?, he informed.

Mr. Marc emphasises that in order to find a suitable solution for paper mills, the Indian Government should be urged by the Paper Mills Association in India to evaluate this law and consult with the EU authorities.. He added, “all that is known for months already and I am still very surprised of the lack of reaction of the recycling industry (paper mills and metal smelters) in India on that. India will be the most hit country with this legislation and nobody is asking the government to react and liaise with EU authorities”

"At the same time, the collection in Europe will collapse, as the lack of exports will lead to low prices, discouraged investments and we will see job losses. Recovered paper will go more and more to landfills. Nobody is reacting, all will loose, including the Environment !!!" he adds.

source :- thepulpandpapertimes