Last year Mahindra had collaborated with Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) to explore a new business opportunity. The Indian UV maker had set up a vehicle recycling centre in Noida- CERO, to dismantle end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) or vehicles which are 15 years or older. Interestingly, Mahindra has sighted strong potential in the business and is planning to invest further into it. According to our sources, the company will be partnering with the unauthorised scrappers to set up six new CERO vehicle recycling centres in the country this year and up to 30 new vehicle recycling centres within the next three years.
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The new business is in line with the Government's upcoming vehicle Scrapping Policy and the CERO brand is also accredited by the Delhi Government. The scrapping process of old vehicles helps to recover around 70 per cent of steel which is one of the key constituents among others. The facility further aims to procure 97 per cent of recyclable elements from the models which have been manufactured after 1980. The CERO facility can recycle old trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and other consumer goods. Along with the regular metals and scrapable items, CERO also has a facility in place to recycle e-waste or electronic goods, in case of cars which are infotainment systems, ECUs and lighting assembly among others. Some even argue that e-waste can be procured and recycled 100 per cent.
The name CERO in Spanish means Zero and has been a choice as the CERO facility embraces zero pollution objective. All of them will warrant ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 along with all the international quality norms. ELV owners who will bring their cars to CERO will get fair compensation for the salvage value of their vehicles and will get an official 80G certificate for tax exemption. The residue of the car will be traded for further processing.
The car recycling business is turning out to be a new business opportunity and other carmakers in India are also exploring it. "All brand owners have been given responsibility, these brand owners are setting up collection points. The infrastructure will be made by them. Our job is to see whether they've done that or not. So producers have been given more responsibility," said Anand Kumar, Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). CPCB will be playing a major role in the establishment of the Scrappage Policy for India and will be the watchdog which will keep an eye on the operations making sure that all the vehicle recyclers abide the pollution and safety regulations.
