IPMA: “Paper suffers from negative publicity; ills of e-waste undermined”

The campaign is an initiative by Government of India to sensitise people, especially students about climate change and global warming and the need to protect our environment for our future generations by performing at least one Green Good Deed every day.

In a detailed response to Dr Harsh Vardhan, minister of environment, forest and climate change, Government of India, IPMA through its secretary general Rohit Pandit has highlighted the positive role of the Indian paper industry to the environment’s cause.

Putting forward the efforts of the paper industry and detailing its working vis-a-vis the environment, Pandit in his 13-point response carefully breaks down several myths about the paper industry destroying the environment.

On top of his list, Pandit explained how 70% of the paper produced in India is from waste/recycled paper or agricultural residue and the remaining 30% is from pulpwood which is from agro/farm forestry which is unlike the rest of the world which is dependent on natural forest for raw material.

He added that 900 hectares have been brought under plantation cumulatively in the recent years and 125,000 hectares are covered under agro/farm forestry annually.

He has also highlighted the paper industry’s long pending plea to the various departments of the Indian government to permit plantation on the degraded forest which can increase green cover by 1%, apart from providing employment to approximately 10-lakh rural and tribal people and Rs 1-lakh crores of economic development in 20 years.

Pandit has also stressed on the major issue of damage to the environment by e-waste and the other effects of digitalisation are undermined and the paper industry, which is greening the country is suffering due to negative publicity.