India Plans To Recycle Millions Of Old Vehicles To Overcome Growing Pollution Problems: Report

With the growing concerns around the rising pollution levels, India is now planning to remove millions of older polluting four-wheelers from its roads in the effort to cleanse some of the world's most toxic air and looks set to face numerous challenges with the latest survey pointing out that the majority of car owners are not interested in trading in their automobile, just based on the age.

An Initiative To Cut Pollution!

In a recent report, NDTV quoted a LocalCircles- who surveyed approximately 57 per cent of 10,543 vehicle owners saying whether a car should be removed from service or not should entirely be based on miles on the odometer rather than age. In 2021, the Centre had mandated that personal vehicles over 20 years old and commercial vehicles over 15 years old must undergo fitness tests to remain on the road.

Furthermore, just over half of the consumers surveyed stated that they are preparing to bring down the number of cars they own due to the belief that India's cash-for-clunkers policy would make it even more expensive to keep hold of an old vehicle. Meanwhile, authorities have made the auto fitness tests even more expensive since April this year, with car owners that have a vehicle older than 15 years now needing to spend eight times more to renew their registration.

Major Setback Behind Net Zero Emissions

The lack of interest from the public in getting rid of polluting vehicles might cause a major setback for India's goal of net carbon zero by 2070. So, recycling aged cars are vital for the country to cut emissions, considering the takeup of electric vehicles (EV) lags amid sparse charging networks and also due to the high price of battery-powered transport. The Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) in India predicts that by 2025, the country will have nearly 20 million old vehicles approaching the end of their lives, triggering massive environmental damage.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led administration had previously stated that it expects the program to draw new investment of more than $1.3 billion (₹100 billion) and bring down India's dependency on other nations for metals. PM Modi has said scrapping end-of-life vehicles in India is currently not productive because precious metals aren't recycled and the energy recovery is close to nothing.

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