Recycling of end-of-life automobiles in India. Allow me to - TopicsExpress

Recycling of end-of-life automobiles in India. Allow me to share a few thoughts on a task which I am primarily engaged in these days. I head the automotive recycling sub group of the Society of Indian Automotive manufacturers (SIAM). I took up the subject of recycling end of life scrapped cars, two wheelers and truckers about ten years ago and have been actively promoting the concept. I presented a paper on the topic at a workshop I had organized by the Indian National Academy (INAE) on recycling old cars and electronic equipment at BARC in 2007. The paper is one of the documents referred to in Prime Ministers Action Paper on Climate Change released in 2008 as the official policy of the Government of India on GHG reduction and global warming. I have attended seven seminars abroad to gather information and presented papers at Munich and London on the Indian issue. I have conducted many workshops in India and invited foreign experts to address us and educate us. I had suggested setting up a model demo center for dismantling end of life cars and motorcycles for developing labor intensive but environmentally efficient system for dismantling old cars and scooters. After intense lobbying for years, I was able to persuade the Ministry of Heavy industry to set up the center at Global Automotive Research Center (GARC) at Oragadum near Chennai at a cost of rupees fifteen million. I persuaded the auto industry to donate free of cost about seventy five motor cycles and twenty five cars free of cost to the center to kick start the unit The Recycling Demonstration Center (RDU) has completed the task of dismantling the vehicles and has just submitted a report. I also spearheaded the effort to formulate draft rules and regulations on design of vehicles and dismantling / recycling systems and headed a committed set up for the purpose. We have completed the draft and submitted to the Government. The rules are under consideration and should be promulgated after due process in two years time. India produces about two million cars and fifteen million two wheelers a year in addition to trucks and three wheelers. Subject to normal fluctuations the industry is growing at a rate of 10-12 percent every year. In ten years time we will be producing six million cars and thirty million two wheelers. This trend is related to our economic growth and is irreversible. Properly done, we can generate over two million tons of high grade scrap for the steel industry, 250,000 tons of Aluminum and over 100000 tons of plastic and rubber. This will generate jobs, conserve depleting raw material sources, save energy and reduce pollution. Currently old cars are dismantled in small unorganized sector units located in the hearts of cities like Mayapuri in Delhi, Pudhupet in Chennai and Shivaji Nagar using crude methods, unhygienic and some illegal practices and operate at a very low tech level. They pollute the air and ground water and pose severe health hazards to the public. These units can not cope up with the expected huge volumes of scrapped cars and two wheelers which will reach end of life in the near future. India needs a modern organized system for handling the volume but using abundant manual labor instead of automated systems prevailing in USA, Japan and Europe. This is my primary goal. Even with good practices, about twenty percent by weight becomes a residue which is sent to landfills. Land is scarce in India and can not be spared for dumping residues even following hygienic practices. Work is going on in Europe and Japan for getting useful material and energy out of the residue and minimizing pressure for landfills. I have been assigned funds from the government to identify research needed to reduce residues in India and am working with a scientist from BARC, a plastic specialist and a professor specializing in rubber. India is like a country with only midwives and no undertakers! This model is unsustainable. This is a major problem which needs to be tackled urgently.