India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors has commissioned its first registered vehicle scrappage facility (RVSF) with a capacity of 15,000 vehicle/yr in Jaipur city of the northwestern state of Rajasthan.
The facility, named Re.Wi.Re [Recycle with Respect], is designed for safe and sustainable dismantling of end-of-life passenger and commercial vehicles of all brands, with dedicated stations for components such as tyres, batteries, fuel, oils, liquids and gases, the company said on 28 February.
“We are working towards positioning India as a vehicle scrapping hub for the entire south Asian region and need more such state-of-the-art scrapping and recycling units in India,” India’s minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said.
India launched a national vehicle scrapping policy in August 2021, aimed at phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles while increasing domestic scrap metal processing capacity and reducing dependence on scrap imports.
In a boost to accelerate the vehicle scrapping policy, the Indian government in its budget for April 2023-March 2024 allocated funds to scrap old vehicles of the central government and assured support to states in replacing old vehicles and ambulances.
Gadkari aims to set up 3-4 scrapping centres in every district of the country as demand for scrap increases. India’s steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has committed to an increase in scrap usage through the primary steel production route from 15pc currently to 25pc over the next five years and to 50pc by 2047, to reduce carbon emissions in steel production.
Tata Motors had in 2021 announced the setting up of a 36,000 vehicle/yr scrapping facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and also signed an initial deal with Maharashtra state to set up a 35,000 vehicle/yr scrapping centre there.
Indian steelmaker Tata Steel already operates a 500,000 t/yr steel recycling plant at Rohtak in north India’s Haryana state, while JSW Steel has announced plans to set up scrap shredding facilities in India in a joint venture with New Zealand’s metal recycler National Steel Holdings (NSHL).
Government-authorised vehicle recycler Mahindra Cero announced plans in 2021 to establish four new vehicle-scrapping units with Maharashtra state, with a planned scrapping capacity of 40,000 vehicles/yr.
Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India, a joint venture between India’s Maruti Suzuki and Japan’s Toyota Tsusho, launched a 24,000 vehicle/yr scrapping and recycling unit in Noida city of Uttar Pradesh state in November 2021.
