However, India’s car recycling or shredding ecosystem is still in its infancy. The sector is largely dominated by the unorganized sector. Areas like Mayapuri and Jama Masjid in Delhi, Kurla in Mumbai, Pudupet in Chennai, are the current graveyards for junk vehicles.

Activities in these areas are largely unorganized and unregulated. This means that the recycling process is mostly carried out without sophisticated equipment or processes. Recovery and efficiency are also low. The processes not only pose health risks, but also inherently have serious security gaps.

The health hazards surrounding the markets have drawn attention in the past. There was a case of radiation from Cobalt 60 pencils a few years ago. Lead batteries are also harmful in their content. Vehicle oils drained onto roadways result in extremely unsanitary conditions. The practice of gas cutting creates an enormous amount of pollution and makes it impossible to breathe, worsening the dismal air quality condition that exists in Delhi in both ways.

In addition to the existing pipeline of old vehicles flowing into these markets, the government is drafting a much-needed end-of-life policy for cars. Given that the average life of a car in India is 18 years, compared to 9.73 years in Europe, vehicles run well beyond their expiration date. The effect is obvious: an old car produces up to 10 times more emissions than new cars, due to outdated technology, etc. The Delhi government, to begin with, has drafted a policy to scrap 37 lakh vehicles over 15 years old, about 37% of registered cars in Delhi.

“Currently, there is no rule to guide the police or the government on what should be done with vehicles after they are seized. The new rules will create a mechanism to ensure the proper disposal of old vehicles. This is going to be a first-of-its-kind policy in India,” (Transport) Commissioner Varsha Joshi told the Hindustan Times.

The question now is this: Does Delhi (or India) have the proper and correct capacity to recycle these old cars?

India will need to borrow the best practices followed in Europe and the US to help bring car recycling practices up to an organized level.

In this process, the vehicle is first sent for decontamination. The decontamination process safely removes all hazardous waste: batteries, airbags, gas cylinders, mercury switches, tires, air conditioning units, fluids and oils; this is done through sophisticated machinery. The vehicle is then sent for dismantling, where the good parts are removed for later resale/use. The rest of the vehicle is then pressed/cut.

During shredding, 3 components of the car are segregated:

• Ferrous – recycled in material

• Non-ferrous – recycled in material

• Shredded waste: sent to landfills or recycled to the extent possible.

The organized process is carried out through machines as opposed to the brute force used in the unorganized markets. As a result of these organized processes, almost zero pollution and waste is produced.

The result is a circular economy, where scrap steel produced is reused and reliance on natural resource extraction is reduced, as well as scrap steel imports (India currently imports scrap steel to the tune of 8 million tons). Therefore, the need of the hour for the Indian context is not only an efficient end-of-life vehicle policy, but also organized vehicle recycling practices.