India's rising manufacturing output, while gratifying, comes with a price to society in high energy usage and increase in harmful emissions and greenhouse gases. Efficient recycling of engineered goods saves energy, reduces emissions, conserves resources, preserves precious foreign exchange, and creates large avenues for employment. The recycling of cars and motorcycles at the end of life, in particular, presents a major challenge and a great opportunity in the Indian context.

GROWTH OF INDUSTRY

India's automobile industry is a success story. After de-licensing in the early nineties, the growth in the production and export of cars and two-wheelers has been spectacular. Annual production of vehicles has increased tenfold, while the population on the road has quintupled. It is projected that in the next ten years, annual production of cars will reach six million, and two-wheelers will more than double, to cross thirty million. There will be corresponding increases in the numbers for commercial vehicles and some other categories. As newer vehicles appear, older vehicles reaching the end of economic life would need to be scrapped.

BENEFITS OF RECYCLING

Automobiles are among the most recyclable of engineered goods, offering rates of recovery up to ninety per cent. Approximately 65 per cent of the weight of a typical saloon car is high-grade steel. Aluminium accounts for another 7 to 8 per cent. There are some other useful materials like copper, noble metals in the catalytic convertors, etc., which can be recovered. Plastic and rubber used in the cars can be recycled.

Recycling a normal saloon car can help conserve 2500 kilograms of iron ore, 1400 kilograms of coal, 125 tonnes of limestone, reduce the release of 1000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, and save more than 1 mega watt of energy. For a typical motorcycle, corresponding gains are approximately one-eighth that of a car. The savings accrue mostly due to melting of scrap instead of the chemical process of smelting ores. Recycling one kilogram of aluminium saves 14 kilo watts of electrical energy, compared to producing virgin metal produced from bauxite.

By efficient recycling, India can recover two million tonnes of steel, 180,000 tonnes of aluminium, 75,000 tonnes each of rubber and plastic, in addition to some other materials by 2020. There will be attendant savings in energy resources, and significant reduction in greenhouse gas releases. These quantities will increase by approximately 10 per cent per annum in future years.

Many stakeholders are involved in the journey from car to scrap: primary producers, component makers, vehicle manufacturers, government agencies, dismantlers, shredders, scrap merchants, part dealers and material producers from feedstock. This diverse list has, to some extent, impeded the development of the industry, as no single group comes forward to own the process.

UNORGANISED SECTOR

Currently, there are no regulations governing design and manufacturing vehicles for end-of-life ease of recycling, or standards regulating the operations of units engaged in breaking up old vehicles in India. Europe and Japan have stringent regulations governing these aspects. Moreover, globally, there are no regulations concerning two-wheelers, which form a large component of India's vehicle population.

India's awareness of ecological issues is relatively recent. The disposal of end-of-life vehicles hasn't caught the attention of society. However, the automobile industry has voluntarily embarked on studying the issue in depth, as a proactive measure.

Currently, India has neither the infrastructure nor the regulatory mechanism for efficient disposal of end-of-life vehicles. As the industry started growing only in the nineties, volumes of vehicles due for scrapping currently are small. Dismantling of cars and bikes takes place in the unorganised sector in a haphazard and unscientific manner. Unhygienic processes are used by these units, resulting in air pollution, contamination of groundwater and severe health hazards for the employees.

In most cities, such units located in residential areas, severely pollute the air and groundwater. For instance, a vehicle-scrapping complex in Delhi employs more than 20,000 people working in inhuman conditions, with no regard to the environment. In Chennai, this trade is carried out in Pudupet near Anna Salai, in the heart of the city, on the banks of the Cooum River. The story is similar is the rest of the cities — Lohar Chawl and Chor Bazaar in Mumbai, Ukkadam in Coimbatore etc. These would have been small units in the early days, when the cities weren't crowded, but their operations currently present significant health hazards to the citizens. In all, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people are employed in the unorganised sector, dismantling cars and recovering parts and materials.

THE WAY AHEAD

In a fine example of public-private partnership, the automobile industry and Ministry of Heavy Industry have set up an automobile dismantling demonstration centre at the Global Auto Research Centre at Oragadum, near Chennai. The layout and facilities of the centre were based on study of efficient units globally. It can dismantle automobiles in a hygienic fashion with minimum impact on the environment. It will also develop systems for dismantling two-wheelers and try to use manual labour to the maximum extent. The centre will also attempt to train existing operators, and motivate them to upgrade their units.

The Society of Automotive Manufacturers has conducted seminars to sensitise the authorities concerned on the importance of the issue. Officers have visited units all across the globe, and attended international conferences on the subject. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is currently drafting detailed regulations which will be put up to the authorities for discussion and promulgation.

As vehicle populations increase, the need for efficient and environment-friendly dismantling and recycling centres becomes more and more urgent. With proper planning, co-operation of all stakeholders, and appropriate incentives, an efficient and viable recycling industry can come up in India, with vast benefits to sustainability, in terms of energy savings, environmental improvement and employment. The time is ripe for acting on this vital issue.

(The author is Advisor, TVS Motor Company Limited.)

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