In about 12 years, India will have to dispose of around 22 million two-wheelers and three million cars that have been manufactured during 2017-18. “However, with no proper infrastructure in place for recycling these vehicles, it is a scary scenario. We have no formal rules or regulations either,” says Captain N.S. Mohan Ram, author of the book Recycling End of Life Vehicles . The book was published by Productivity and Quality Publishing Pvt Ltd and was released recently in the city.
Stressing on the need to look at other countries and learn from them, he said in Japan, by virtue of a legislation passed in 2015, around 85% of every vehicle should be used as parts or recovered as material and the rest had to be disposed of by incineration.
“In the 3Rs, reuse of car parts is the best; recycling by breaking up body parts and shredding them into pieces, melting in furnaces and getting steel comes next; and then comes recovery wherein materials that cannot be put to any other use are incinerated and converted as energy,” explained Mr. Mohan Ram, who has held the post of the president of TVS Motor Company and is currently a full-time consultant with the company. However, India has no rule or regulation for end-of-life vehicles.
“It is the same case with durables too. They are being produced in huge numbers in factories but they are being broken down and scrapped in small shops. This was ‘okay’ some 25-30 years ago when the numbers were small. This is also how vehicles are scrapped in India. In many cases, vehicles are abandoned along highways,” he said.
Asked about extended producers responsibility (EPR), Captain Mohan Ram, who designed the INS Godavari, said that it was not a single person’s responsibility but involved everyone including the last owner, who should give it to a recycler for dismantling.
Manufacturers’ duty
“The manufacturers’ job is to produce vehicles that are suited for proper recycling; they should also set up a network for dismantling. The government enforces the regulations,” he said. The country now needs to implement the rules and start recycling centres.
“We need to upgrade the informal recycling industry to an organised sector. It is a problem that can be converted into a solution and which will save energy, create jobs, conserve materials, reduce mining, reduce pollution and save foreign exchange. We also need to ensure de-registration of vehicles once they are taken off the roads,” he added.
