Suzuki, Toyota allies at Indian ELV recycling facility

A ceremony in Noida, India, near New Delhi, was held this week to inaugurate a government-approved end-of-life (ELV) disassembly and processing facility in that city. The ELV center is operated by a joint venture (JV) company called Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Private Ltd. (MSTI).

MSTI was established in 2019 as a JV between Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) and Toyota Tsusho Group, which itself is a JV backed by Toyota Tsusho Corp. (TTC) and Toyota Tsusho India Private Limited (TTIPL). Headquartered in New Delhi, MSTI has set up the vehicle scrapping and recycling unit in Noida as its first such location, saying it intends to set up more such facilities in India, based on demand.

Earlier this year, New Delhi-based Tata Steel commissioned its first ferrous scrap shredding and recycling plant, located in the city of Rohtak in the state of Haryana, India. Both efforts are part of a government initiative to encourage investment in environmentally sound ELV processing capacity.

A graphic depicting operations at the MSTI Noida facility, posted to the Maruti Suzuki website, shows vehicle disassembly and metals baling operations. It does not indicate the presence of a shredding plant.

Attendees at the MSTI inauguration ceremony included Shri Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Satoshi Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to India; Kenichi Ayukawa, CEO of MSIL; Hiroshi Yanagisawa, managing director of TTIPL; Rahul Bharti, executive director, corporate affairs with Maruti Suzuki; and other representatives from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and city of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh state government bureaus.

The 10,990-square-meter (118,000-square-feet) facility has the capacity to scrap and recycle more than 24,000 ELVs annually, says MSTI. Built with an investment of more than 440 million Indian rupees ($5.9 million), MTSI says the facility “uses modern and technologically advanced machines to dismantle and scrap ELVs in a scientific manner.” All the equipment installed at the facility is manufactured in India, adds MTSI.

At the ceremony, Minister Gadkari said, “Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has launched the visionary National Automobile Scrappage Policy aimed at creating an ecosystem for phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles from the Indian roads. To meet this objective, we need state-of-the-art scrapping and recycling units. I would like to congratulate Maruti Suzuki and Toyota Tsusho Group for setting up this modern facility as per global standards. I would request Maruti and other stakeholders to build and create an ecosystem of similar scrapping and recycling units across the country. This would make the roads safer, air cleaner and the raw material cheaper for their cars.”

Ayukawa of MSTI said, “Till now there was no scientific, clean and healthy way to dispose a car at its end-of-life [in India]. MSTI uses global process methodology to address this gap. This is just the beginning. With our partners we are committed to set up more such modern ELV scrap and recycle centers in India.”

Naoji Saito, CEO of the Metal Division of Toyota Tsusho, remarked, “Recently we have run environmentally friendly ELV dismantling and recycling businesses in several major countries of the world. Our experience of over 50 years in Japan helped in these projects. Now we will achieve the best practice for ELV recycling and contribute to the circular economy in India by combining our experience and equipment made in India.”