Mahindra Intertrade, a part of Mahindra Group today entered into a partnership with MSTC, a Government of India enterprise, to set-up country's first integrated auto recycling facility. The facility will have the first-of-its-kind Greenfield auto shredding and recycling capability to dispose of end of live vehicles. The joint venture agreement was officially signed by Sumit Issar, Managing Director, Mahindra Intertrade, and B. B. Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, MSTC under the aegis of the Minister of Steel and Mines, Chaudhary Birender Singh.
Apparently, both these entities have come together to set-up a smart integrated auto shredding facility to efficiently dispose and recycle end of life vehicles - from the collection, compaction, transportation, de-pollution, dismantling, shredding, recycling, and disposal. According to the official statement released by the company, this new state-of-the-art facility comes with high-tech shredding and sorting equipment to meet global standards and will ensure that the scrappage of vehicles is carried out in an environment friendly manner as per guidelines released by the MoEFC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board).
Frankly, the concept of vehicle scrapping and recycling is still very new in India. On one hand, the number of vehicles is increasing substantially over the last two decades, whereas on the other hand, there is no recycling or scrapping provision in place to deal with old and discarded vehicles. And this JV is a significant first step towards ensuring that end-of-life vehicles are recycled in a sustainable and responsible manner, with the aim of 100% recycling of all materials.
Car Scrapyard
This move comes right after the Delhi and NCR government ordered a ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicle from plying in the national capital and its surrounding regions. In fact, authorities have already started impounding these older vehicles to be dismantled and a facility like this will be largely beneficial in this process. Given the new stricter norms related to road worthiness of automobiles and recent NGT guidelines, a huge number of vehicles are expected to come under the end-of-life category in India.
Commenting on their new partnership, B. B. Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, MSTC said, "India does not have any modern auto shredding plant as of now. MSTC-MIL will have a good partnership going ahead. We are sure of setting up a world-class facility which will go a long way in the recycling of ELVs and reduce dependence on mining iron ore and other resources. Apart from savings on forex as a result of import substitution of scrap, this JV would also contribute to India's COP21 commitments."
Whereas, Sumit Issar, Managing Director, Mahindra Intertrade said, "Auto Recycling, if implemented as per global standards, is not only environment-friendly but also saves energy costs and minimises the reliance on alternate resources. Every tonne of new steel manufactured from scrap steel saves a substantial amount of iron ore, coal, electricity and limestone. This initiative would also lead to forex savings. Secondary steelmakers in India import more than 5 million tonnes of scrap a year for recycling into finished steel. The locally available scrap would help reduce their cost of production considerably, while hi-tech shredding using better technology and machinery would help the country significantly reduce pollution."
Currently, the partners have shortlisted Gujarat and Maharashtra as plausible locations for the first integrated facility and plan to have an all-India footprint for collection/dismantling of vehicles. Given the scale and size of the project, it aims to provide eco-friendly disposal of end of life vehicles, apart from creating a brand new Industry and multiple growth opportunities.
