Mahindra Intertrade Ltd, part of the Mahindra group, signed an MoU on Thursday with MSTC Ltd, a government undertaking, to set up India’s first auto shredding facility.
Auto shredding is a largely unorganised activity in India, even as vehicles long past their usable life still being in use. Older vehicles are currently dismantled in an unscientific manner, hazardous to the environment. The extent to which the vehicle is recycled is also very minimal, with most vehicular residue making its way into landfills.
The proposed facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art, fully automated end-of-life vehicle recycling equipment.
“MSTC is always looking at innovative ways to recycle scrap and protect the environment and this facility will help to participate in the emission targets which India has promised to fulfil via the COP 21 Emission Treaty,” said S.K. Tripathi, chairman and managing director of the public sector company.
According to Zhooben Bhiwandiwala, managing partner, Mahindra Partners, the concept of vehicle scrappage is still new to India as compared to the west where it is a lucrative industry.
“While the number of cars has increased substantially over the last two decades, there is no recycling or scrapping provision in place to deal with old and discarded vehicles,” he said. “Recycling, if done correctly, is not only environment friendly but will also help keep older vehicles off the streets.”
Sumit Issar, managing director, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd, said its study indicated that recycling not only saves energy costs but also minimises the need for other resources as every tonne of new steel manufactured from scrap steel saves a substantial amount of iron ore, coal and limestone.
“Moreover, if India focuses on scrapping old automobiles, it can recover significant amounts of steel scrap, aluminium scrap, plastic and rubber. Hence, there is a pressing need for facilities such as this one,” he added.
Source : BS Motoring