On 29 August 2023, the Monarch Hotel in Moscow hosted the Forum “Circular Economy: Regulation, Digitalisation, Investments” and the conference “Digitalisation of Scrap Market. Transition to cashless payments to individuals for scrap”. The event was organised by Rating Agency Rusmet. It was sponsored by Tinkoff Business, Alfa-Bank and Jump.Finance; its partners were Green Moscow, the National Recycling Association RUSLOM.COM and Vtorion.
More than 500 people attended the event. The Forum and the Conference were actively supported by leading representatives of the Russian financial community interested in working with the scrap industry, including Alfa-Bank, Bank Avangard, Gazprombank, QIWI Bank, Promsvyazbank, ROSBANK, Russian Agricultural Bank, Sberbank, Tinkoff Bank, Uralsib, and VTB; payment systems and recycling marketplaces Jump.Finance, Vtorion, Mandarin, and ALMAZ; equipment suppliers and manufacturers.
Participants included leaders of the scrap industry, metallurgy, related industries, industry associations, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, as well as representatives of government authorities – the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development, and the Moscow City Government.
The Forum and the Conference provided an opportunity to discuss and analyse key industry issues, including the transition to cashless payments to individuals for scrap, the impact of digitalisation on the scrap market, and environmental and regulatory aspects of waste management.
The event started with the session “State Regulation of Circular Economy. Digitalisation in the ferrous, non-ferrous and precious metals scrap and waste management industry”, which discussed the transition to circular economy, the relevance of the ESG agenda for metallurgy, environmental clusters, and digitalisation of the scrap market, including digitalisation of licensing.
Komsomolskaya Pravda Media Group presented a number of projects dedicated to environmental protection at the session. These included the National Environmental Award, which will be given in December 2023 in partnership with the National Recycling Association RUSLOM.COM in a number of nominations.
Andrey Lugovoy, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Circular Economy and Ecology of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, in his speech assessed the impact of the law on cashless settlements on the transparency of the scrap market. He also noted the importance of the initiative on the possible abolition of personal income tax on the delivery of scrap for further improvement of the scrap turnover and its whitewashing. Andrey Savelyev, Head of the Ferrous Metallurgy Development Division of the Metallurgy and Materials Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Alexey Sentyurin, Director of the Russian Steel Association, also addressed this issue.
During the session, the Association RUSLOM.COM, Rating Agency Rusmet, and Vtorion (a marketplace for recyclable materials that brings together scrap metal suppliers and buyers across Russia on one digital platform), announced plans to jointly create a digital environment for the scrap collection industry. The organisations announced the launch of a strategic partnership aimed at digitalising scrap collection processes and transitioning to cashless payments.
The business programme continued with an open meeting of the Commission on Ecology of the Council for the Development of the Circular Economy and Ecology of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The main topics discussed by the experts included the legal concept and special regulation of scrap and waste metals, aspects of identification and confirmation of ownership of scrap and waste for different categories of entities (individuals and legal), as well as issues related to avoiding double licensing and control over the activities of scrap collectors and waste recyclers.
After a break, the work continued in the format of a round table held within the framework of the Moscow Innovation Cluster “Green Moscow”. The participants discussed such issues as: incentives and drivers for the development and implementation of green technologies in Moscow; opportunities for using green technologies to improve the competitiveness of the city’s companies and their promotion in the market; interest and readiness of Moscow companies to cooperate with green technologies and partners, including foreign ones; improving government policy and support system for developing and implementing green technologies.
In addition, companies offering green technologies for the benefit of the city presented their projects at the round table.
In parallel with the round table, the conference “Digitalisation of Scrap Market. Transition to cashless payments to individuals for scrap” was held. The co-organiser was the Vtorion marketplace.
Representatives of banks, metallurgists, scrap collectors, e-commerce services, the National Recycling Association RUSLOM.COM and Rating Agency Rusmet took part in the open discussion on the readiness of the scrap market and banking infrastructure for digitalisation of processes and implementation of the law on cashless payments for scrap.
The participants discussed issues such as the existence of barriers for individuals at the introduction of cashless payments, existing limitations, risks for market participants, and the impact of the transition to cashless payments on business and the market.
The day’s business programme concluded with a ceremonial awarding of scrap collectors for their contribution to the digitalisation of the industry. The winners were selected by experts from Vtorion recycling marketplace.
The event also included visits by the participants on 30 August 2023 to relevant enterprises, where they were able to get acquainted with best practices and technologies: a tour to Kaluga to the plant of NLMK and a tour “Industrial Parks and Clusters. How to start a business in Moscow with state support”.
The participants of the event highly appreciated the quality of its preparation, the content presented and the opportunity to establish useful contacts, as well as the efforts of the Rating Agency Rusmet and the National Recycling Association RUSLOM.COM to promote the topical agenda in the industry, consolidate market participants to discuss opportunities and issues, also during events such as this one.
