SIAM hosts webinar on ‘Vehicle Scrappage Policy 2021: Its Features and Implementation Planning’
Mumbai: In order to deliberate on the Automotive Industry’s strides towards ELV recycling, circular economy, and sustainable mobility, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex automotive industry body, organized a virtual webinar on Vehicle Scrappage Policy 2021: Its Features and Implementation Planning.
Divided into three sessions, the webinar witnessed industry stalwarts and experts discussing the policy framework, best practices in material recycling, Extended Producers Responsibility, and models related to environmentally sound management of ELVs recycling including the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders to devise the roadmap of transitioning to a circular economy.
In his welcome address, Mr. Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said, “Unveiled by the Hon’ble PrimeMinister, the Vehicle Scrappage Policy is robust policy. We are pleased that the implementation of the scrappage policy will foster the circular economy and help achieve energy security, road safety, better environment, and facilitate secondary material usage in the system.”
Mr Shrikant Deshmukh, Chairman, SIAM Recycling & Materials Group, and GM, Mercedes- Benz India Pvt Ltd, gave a comparative perspective of EU directives for ELV recycling and highlighted Japan’s ELV recycling model. Elaborating upon the tremendous opportunity of ELV in India, he advocated the extended producer’s possibility model and emphasized up the importance of shared responsibility of all stakeholders including the Government.
One of the key architects of the policy, Mr Amit Varadan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, and the Chief Guest at the lecture, said, “There are over 1 Crore old vehicles, which lack fitness certificate and can be scrapped. It will greatly improve road & vehicle safety, environment, fuel efficiency and boost auto sector sales by 30%. The policy has the potential to generate 35000 jobs while saving maintenance costs for customers and manufacturing costs for OEMs. From 1st April 2023, the heavy commercial vehicles will be mandated to undergo a test at an authorized fitness testing center and the rest of the commercial vehicles will be mandated to undergo a test from 1st August 2023. We are proposing that 70- 100 fitness testing centers would be set up all over the country.”
While outlining the salient features of the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility, (Scrappage Policy) 2021, Mr Paresh Goel, Director, Ministry of Road Transport & Highway, said that the Vehicle Scrappage Policy is like the health policy for all 25 Crore plus vehicles in the country. He shared the rules for automated testing centers, covering the owners’ eligibility,
