Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India opens first vehicle scrapping unit in Noida

Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India (MSTI), a joint venture (JV) between Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, has opened its first government-approved end-of-life vehicle (ELV) scrapping and recycling unit in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

Built with an investment of Rs 44 crore, the 10,993-square metre facility, with a capacity to scrap and recycle over 24,000 ELVs annually, was inaugurated by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday. It’s a step towards a circular economy, with the aim to promote organised, transparent, and environment-friendly dismantling of ELVs.

All equipment being used at the facility is manufactured in India. The unit follows globally-approved quality and environment standards. These include complete solid and liquid waste management, ensuring zero discharge of liquid and gases from ELVs. The JV in which MSIL controls 50 per cent and Toyota Tsusho Corporation and its India subsidiary 25 per cent each was formed in 2019.

This is the third authorised scrapping unit. Currently, two facilities — one each in Noida and Chennai — developed by a JV between state-owned MSTC and Mahindra are authorised to do vehicle scrapping.

In August this year, Tata Motors signed an agreement with the Government of Gujarat, through the ports and transport department, to support setting up a registered vehicle scrapping facility in Ahmedabad for end-of-life passenger and commercial vehicles. The scrappage centre will have the capacity to recycle up to 36,000 vehicles a year.

Gadkari said MoRTH’s National Vehicle Scrappage Policy is aimed at creating an ecosystem for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles.

MoRTH announced the scrappage policy in March this year to increase business and employment. Through this policy, the government is looking to incentivise scrapping vehicles older than 15 years and replacing them with new ones, while discouraging the use of old vehicles.

“I would request Maruti and other stakeholders to build and create an ecosystem of similar scrapping and recycling units across the country. This would make roads safer, air cleaner, and raw material cheaper for their cars,” he said.

Kenichi Ayukawa, chairman, MSTI, and managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), Maruti Suzuki India, said until now there was no scientific, clean, and healthy way to dispose of a car at its end-of-life. “MSTI uses global process methodology to address this gap,” he said.

Toyota Tsusho Group has engaged in the ELV recycling business since 1970 in Japan, said Naoji Saito, CEO for the metal division of Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Once a vehicle reaches MSTI, it will be thoroughly inspected and documents checked. It will then be sent for pre-treatment and de-pollution and parts and aggregates like batteries and airbags will be extracted to ensure zero discharge.

Thereafter it will proceed for dismantling in accordance with international best practices and processing, and segregation of scrap material will take place. The vehicle shell will be compressed into a bale to ensure easy storage and transportation. It will take 200 minutes for a car to be processed and scrapped. The value of scrap will get credited into the vehicle owner’s account. The owner will also get a destruction certificate.

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