NEW DELHI: From April, automobile manufacturers will have to mandatorily recycle at least 8% of the steel used in production of vehicles sold in 2005-06, as per the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) norm notified by environment ministry. The percentage of recycling will be gradually increased to 18% by 2035-36.
The mandatory provision of steel recycling has been linked to automobiles sold 20-21 years ago, considering end of life of the vehicles. As per Environment Protection (End-of-Life Vehicles) Rules notified last week, manufacturers must ensure safe collection and recycling of end-of-life vehicles in compliance with annual targets. They must purchase EPR certificates from authorised scrapping facilities to prove their compliance.
They will also need to create awareness for consumers and have schemes for buy back, and register their activities on a centralised portal to be managed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The new rule states, “Every producer shall take measures for sustainable production of vehicles, including in accordance with guidelines issued by the central board.”
Officials said these provisions will help make vehicle scrapping at a formal setting known as Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF). At present, there are 82 RVSFs in country and govt targets to take these numbers to 100 in the next three months. Last week, road transport ministry officials announced that all states, barring small northeastern states, will notify a policy for setting up of RVSFs in the next two months.
The new rules state that the central board will issue EPR certificate through a centralised online portal in favour of a RVSF. It will develop a mechanism for such exchange on the portal and the EPR certificate will be generated on the basis of weight of steel recovered from ELVs processed at RVSFs or other steel scrap materials related to automobile sector processed at these facilities.
Automobile companies can purchase ERP certificates generated by a RVSF through the portal to meet obligations under the rules.
The new regulations also apply to other stakeholders such as owners, bulk consumers owning more than 100 vehicles, RVSFs, collection centres, and automated testing centres (ATCs) for proper disposal of old vehicles.
