Even as India surges ahead in the adoption of clean-energy vehicles, a quiet recycling revolution is happening in parallel, complementing the race to a greener future. The world’s third largest automaker is taking the first steps towards reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products.
Corporate-run scrap yards are coming up, creating a new industry of sorts of recyclable parts, while component manufacturers are replacing metal and plastic with innovative biodegradable material. Take Gurgaon-based Paracoat Products, which makes parts that dampen noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) in automobiles. Typically, such parts are made of plastic or wood. Now, the company is experimenting with jute sticks. Navin Banka, COO of Paracoat, says as the transition to electric mobility kicked in three years ago, automakers and their part suppliers were forced to look at alternative materials that could lead to a reduction in NVH and the overall weight of vehicles.
“That is when we started using agro waste like jute sticks, which are either discarded or burnt,” he says. The new material was on display at the Bharat Mobility Expo in Delhi recently.
THE AFTERLIFE
Alongside small initiatives like Paracoat’s at the components level, there is some momentum at aggregate level as well, with the establishment of scrapping centres for end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In September 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) came up with rules for registered vehicle scrapping facilities (RVSF) to promote a legally compliant vehicle-dismantling and -scrapping industry. Over 50 RVSFs are now operational in various states and 60-70 more will be coming up in the next five years, with an estimated investment of `10,000 crore, according to Nomura Research Institute.
In a country where 3.2 million new vehicles, on average, are sold every year, the importance of creating an ecosystem —for scrapping old vehicles in an organised manner and recycling them with maximum extraction of material to minimise waste—cannot be understated. It is also critical for import substitution. Nomura estimates India will have more than 22 million ELVs by 2025, which translates into a potential scrap value of `32,700 crore. These scrapping centres—which are established either by automakers like Tata Motors, Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki or independent companies—have received a slow response so far, says Kartick Nagpal, president, Rosmerta Recycling. Even as sustainability has become a buzz word across the value chain, it has been a slow start to vehicle scrapping. Most RVSFs, including the one set up by Rosmerta, are grossly underutilised. Rosmerta’s 70,000 sq ft facility in Haryana’s Manesar—the largest in north India—has the capacity to scrap 28,000 vehicles a year. Though Rosmerta’s RSVF is doubling production every quarter— from 155 tonnes in Q1 FY24 to an estimated 1,200 tonnes by the end of Q4—it has utilised only 15% of its capacity. That has not dissuaded Nagpal. His firm is looking to launch one unit each in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat in the current fiscal. “We are confident that this will pick up in two-three years once vehicle owners have better clarity,” says Nagpal, who adds that most owners either hesitate to scrap their vehicles or go to unauthorised centres that give them a better value.
BEYOND METAL
The use of alternative materials will go up multiple times when India’s vehicle scrappage policy becomes mandatory, says Banka of Paracoat.
Metals constitute 86% of total material in an ELV while plastics, glass and rubber constitute 9%. About 5% are non-recyclable, disposable items, according to Nomura Research. With its jute sticks, Paracoat has been able to bring down weight by 12- 15%. “It is helping everyone. These parts are recyclable, it will reduce our dependence on virgin plastics and will also help the farming community,” says Banka.
The share of agricultural waste in the company’s raw material basket is only 1-1.5%. But Banka expects this to climb to 10% in the next couple of years as carmakers step up the use of alternative materials in their forthcoming models. Banka claims his firm is the only one to have commercialised composites made from agricultural waste: jute sticks are powdered or granulated and then mixed with various additives and polymers.
This agro-based composite is then used for moulding components for sheeting, calendaring, etc, which are then used to make various interior parts of a vehicle like a parcel shelf (the tray behind the rear seat of a car). In line with their net-zero goals, automakers have started using alternative materials in their future EV models. The Mahindra Thar.e, an electric variant of the Thar SUV, which is expected to hit the roads in a year, will use recycled PET bottles in 50% of seat fabric. All uncoated plastic in it will be recyclable, too, said the company while showcasing the vehicle last year.
Mahindra claims to be among the first automobile companies to use recycled and recyclable components in India. Pratap Bose, chief of design, M&M, told ET Auto recently that the company’s design, engineering and material procurement team is taking a close look at parts that can be used without painting so that it is easier to recycle. “If it has paint, that has to be stripped off. So small steps like these reduce complexities, making the material recyclable,” he said.
Mahindra’s plan to incorporate interior fabric made from plastic bottles in its upcoming EV range is a step in the green direction. However, when the company started work on this, it realised that it didn’t have a tier-1 supplier to deliver sustainable parts. M&M then asked suppliers to make it their focus. “The supplier base has now developed and they are able to come up with these materials specifically for us and you will see this in our Born EV range,” Bose said.
Be it a small initiative like choosing to paint parts frugally or using recyclable material, the push from a vehicle manufacturer can have a multiplier effect on the entire value chain. “A lot of global automakers that have India in their sourcing network are asking for it (parts made from alternative materials) as a prerequisite,” says Shradha Suri Marwah, president, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association.
She expects the cost of parts made from recyclable materials—which are currently at a premium compared with traditional ones—to come down as the volume goes up. An enhanced focus on lightweight by automakers amid tightening regulation on emission fuel efficiency and electrification trend will only accelerate the efforts, she says. India, it seems, is set for a net-zero future.
