Vehicle recycling is one area where India needs to work. Facilities are offering such services but not on a large scale, and not in a governed manner. While the relevant authorities are in the process of addressing the governance side of things, it is the former space that needs attention. Maruti Suzuki and the Toyota Group think so too. And that’s why they have come together to form a joint venture for vehicle dismantling and recycling.

Headquartered in New Delhi, the established company is called Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Private Limited (MSTIPL). In it, India’s largest carmaker holds 50 per cent equity, whereas Toyota Tsusho Corporation owns the remaining 50. The first facility to offer vehicle dismantling and recycling services will go live in Noida, Uttar Pradesh within 2020-21. MSTIPL claims that the unit will have an initial capacity to dismantle around 2,000 vehicles per month.

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Are you wondering how the company will source vehicles which have reached their end of life? There will be two main gateways for procurement – customers and dealers. To effectively support resource optimisation and promote recycling, MSTIPL has planned more such facilities in other parts of the country as well. The company says the process of dismantling and recycling will include complete solid and liquid waste management as per the Indian laws, and globally approved quality and environment standards.

Maruti Suzuki’s firm roots, backed by a robust sales and service network will play a key role in delivering anticipated results for MSTIPL. Toyota Tsusho, on the other hand, brings in the knowledge and experience required to run such operations. It ventured into the vehicle recycling business in the 1970s. The collective efforts, along with an incentivised vehicle scrappage scheme, will hopefully create a much-needed platform that encourages people to move away from their rusting and polluting vehicles and trade them for new ones. What do you guys think?