Recycling is an effective way of creating treasure out of waste at a fraction of the energy used in producing primary metals from minerals. Now that both ferrous and non-ferrous metals are ruling at historically high prices, the outlook for scrap recovery and metal production through the secondary route of melting of scrap has never been this good. Steel scrap deals are made at rates of over $600 a tonne. Of all the non-ferrous metals, copper lends itself the best for recycling. Environmentalists celebrate recycling of metals, primarily because energy use is reduced by 75 per cent at melting point. Both China, which is the world's largest producer and user of steel and base metals, and India - seen as the next big emerging centre for metals - feed metal industries mainly with coal-based electricity. Coal-fired power stations cause acid rain. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also says that air pollution could well hit a nation's output as respiratory ailments could keep workers at home. The world knows that China is belching large volumes of pollutants in the air as it is racing ahead to produce up to 530 million tonnes of steel this year. Besides, it is also planning to lift annual aluminium consumption by 1 million tonnes. In order to placate global criticism, China is saying it will phase out polluting steel capacity of up to 100 million tonnes, shut down environment unfriendly aluminium and copper smelters and thermal power plants of 50,000 MW capacity. But many polluting units in China are still open by buying peace with the corrupt provincial bureaucracy. China has put in place a scientific recovery system along with sorting and conveying it to regional distribution centres or directly to secondary metal processors. Unfortunately, even while we have as rich a tradition in metal making as China, we still don't have an organised scrap collection network. There is merit in the suggestion of Indian scrap dealers that like China we should have large recyclable resource processing parks. India will do well to take note of how China is rapidly scaling up scrap recycling. Hindalco, which owns a 25,000-tonne aluminium recycling plant, is the only organised recycler of aluminium scrap. Two examples may be given to show how such parks are boosting scrap recycling. In Jiangsu province, a $1.4 billion dismantling and processing centre for imported automotive scrap is coming up with capacity to handle 5 million cars a year. At the $218 million Fujian Quantong Park, 1 million tonnes of metal scrap can be handled. But the Park will also accommodate smelters using scrap as feedstock. But what must be said in its favour is that soon after the founding of People's Republic of China, the country moved fast in creating wealth out of waste, including metal scrap. Today, the country boasts of nearly 6,000 companies presiding over more than 150,000 waste recovery networks. The waste recovery system and its downstream activities are such that they are highly employment intensive. No surprise, therefore, that this sector in China provides employment to nearly 18 million people. According to Indian trade officials, scrap generation in China got a major boost in the last few years as the country is pressing ahead with infrastructure development, construction and pulling down of old factories and buildings. China National Resources Recycling Association says even while the domestic generation of scrap is rapidly rising, imports constitute nearly half of the total scrap use. The country's imports of copper scrap in 2006 were 5 million tonnes and aluminium scrap nearly 2 million tonnes. The closing down of the 8 million tonne steel mill of Shougang Group has to be seen in the context of the pressure on Chinese authorities to improve Beijing's air quality before the Olympics are held. The mill, which for long was a showpiece for the country's industrialisation, earned notoriety for harming environment. Dismantling of the mill is generating huge quantities of scrap, mainly steel, which after sorting will become feedstock for electric arc furnaces and China has any number of them. Whether the task is as big as removing the remains of a pulled down Shougang mill or collection of scrap in small quantities from hundreds of places across the country.