India gets first automated vehicle recycling unit

The five-acre facility, set up by M&M through a joint venture with government owned company MSTC, went on stream in April this year

If you are looking to get your old car scrapped with convenience, here is some good news.

The country’s first automated and organised vehicle scrapping and recycling facility is up and running in Greater Noida, a satellite town outside the capital.

The five-acre facility, set up by M&M through a joint venture with government owned company MSTC, went on stream in April this year.

Construction of five more facilities at different locations of the country is underway and expected to become operational by March next year.

The company claims it has got a better than expected response to this new unit.

“We have mostly recycled cars that are 15-20 years old. The facility can also recycle old trucks, buses and consumer durables. We chose the national capital region to start our first facility since the region is estimated to have a large ageing population of vehicles,” Sumit Issar, managing director at Mahindra Accelo, told Business Standard.

Mahindra Accelo and MSTC have an equal partnership to set up these recycling centres under a company called CERO.

CERO is buying vehicles directly from owners and at auctions.

The facility evaluates the vehicle and recycles steel, batteries, electronics, engine parts and other metals, etc.

Issar said the company has managed to sell the recycled steel to domestic industry for re-rolling.

He, however, declined to share the number of vehicles recycled so far but said the response has been good.

He expects the facility to achieve a full capacity utilisation by March next year. The unit can scrap and recycle around 500 units a month.

CERO promises to take care of the entire process from towing a vehicle to dismantling, deregistration and recycling.

The owner of vehicle gets a certificate of destruction with details of the vehicle and the date of recycling.

CERO pays the owner a price for the scrap. This price varies with the vehicle type, age and condition.

An owner can also donate the vehicle to CERO, which has a tie-up with a Mahindra NGO dedicated to education of underprivileged girl child.

The NGO will provide the owner 80G certificate for tax exemption.

The facility uses world class equipment and processes to recycle vehicles so that there is zero damage to the environment.

The aim is to minimise pollution in the country by taking such old polluting vehicles off the road. CERO promises a safe and efficient recycling.

Issar said the company has imported equipment from the US and Europe for this plant.

CERO is doing digital marketing of the facility for now and is promoting the concept at vehicle dealerships, garages and among the insurance companies.

“Going forward we expect a high traffic at our recycling facilities,” said Issar.

India, the fifth biggest market for cars, does not have vehicle scrappage policy as of now.

The government is working on a policy that will offer owners some incentives for getting the old vehicles scrapped when they purchase a new one.

Initially, the policy is expected to cover only old commercial vehicles.

Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters