The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : An ecological problem in the making

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

An ecological problem in the making

Special Correspondent

Public-private tie-ups to set up viable systems for recycling automobile scrap needed

CHENNAI: Is there a Lambretta scooter rusting somewhere in your garage? Or a Vijay Super, Suvega or something of the kind?

If so, you are not alone. There are thousands of these vehicles lying in homes, streets, lanes and bylanes in the country. And if the local scrap dealer is not interested, then you are stuck with the vehicle.

This is of great concern to N.S. Mohan Ram, advisor, TVS Motor Company Limited.

Time to start now

"India will face a major environmental disaster in about a decade and half from now, if end-of-the-life vehicles are not recycled ... There is no time to lose. The time to start is now or we will end up with knee-jerk reactions and non-optimal solutions," he said during a presentation at the International Mobility Engineering Congress and Exposition 2005, organised by the Society for Automobile Engineers India, here.

By 2020, scrap generated from end-of-life vehicles will be about 2.5 million tonnes. And, as much as 40 per cent of this will come from two wheelers.

Growing vehicle production

During 1980-81, the total number of vehicles produced was 5.8 lakhs while in 2004-05, it was 8170 lakhs. Vehicles produced in the eighties are now ready for `scrapping.'

While scrapping was a huge problem, it also presented a business opportunity, he said.

"It can be a major source of employment for semi-skilled personnel," he said and added that as many as 75,000 to 80,000 persons could be gainfully employed in scrapping two wheelers.

No infrastructure

But the problem was that India did not have any infrastructure in place for collection, dismantling, shredding and processing automobile scrap.

The next problem was that the number of vehicles available for scrapping now was not significant to justify a huge investment on infrastructure now.

But he warned that the problem remained. Hence there was an urgent need for public-private partnerships in establishing effective and economically viable systems for recycling automobile scrap.

Mr. Ram suggested all industry association should come together and start a pilot project to understand the technological implications and identify appropriate technologies for scrapping.

NATRIP takes up

suggestion

Quick to take up the offer, NATRIP CEO and Director Sunil Chaturvedi said research-based recycling was one of the subjects that NATRIP was keen on taking up. Such a project had to respond to the recycling and environmental needs of the present.

Also, NATRIP had committed to the Government to set up Centre of excellence for recycling. "I would like Capt. Mohan Ram to lead the initiative."

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