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By 2025, India will have a monumental load of over 2 crore old vehicles nearing the end of their lives. These, along with other unfit vehicles,will cause huge pollution and environmental damage 

CSE offers a set of recommendations for an effective scrappage policy…even as the country awaits notification of such a national policy. CSE experts say India needs a well-designed scrappage policy to lower emissions, reduce environmental damages, and recover material from clunker as part of a post-pandemic new green deal 

The policy needs to link economic recovery andfiscal stimulus with replacement of older heavy duty vehicles with BSVI vehicles.For personal cars and two-wheelers,scrappage scheme should incentivisereplacement with electric vehicles 

Advent of the BSVI emissions standards and the electric vehicle programmeare an opportunity to renew the fleet with significantly cleaner vehicles. BSVI heavy duty vehicle are designed to emit 35 times less particulates compared to BS-I vehicles 

India’s end-of-life regulations for manufacturersasks for making vehicles in such a manner that a minimum 80-85 per cent is recyclable/recoverable/reusable from end-of-life vehicles; and that vehicles should not contain toxic metals like lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium other than specified conditions. But strengthen this further to include extended producer responsibility and make the rules legally binding 

Scale up environmentally sound vehicle scrappage infrastructure nation-wide for safe disposal of waste and for material recovery for recycling like steel, aluminum and plasticsetc  

New Delhi, September 28, 2020: A new report released here today by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) draws attention to what should be the critical parameters of an effective vehicle scrapping policy – even as the country awaits the notification of such a policy prepared by the Union Ministry of Road transport and Highways for Cabinet approval.

Says CSE executive director-research and advocacy AnumitaRoychowdhury, who spearheaded the research that has gone into this new report: “There is an enormous opportunity to turn this policy into an instrument for green recovery. Bharat Stage VI emissions standards and electric vehicle incentives are in place and polluted cities have included old vehicle phase-out as part of their clean air action under the National Clean Air Programme. The new policy must leverage these opportunities to maximise emissions gains from replacement of end-of-life vehicles and recover material from the wasted clunkers for reuse and recycling.”

Roychowdhury was speaking at a webinar here today to release the CSE report, which is titled ‘What to do with old vehicles: Towards effective scrappage policy and infrastructure’.Along with Roychowdhury, the event was anchored by CSE director general SunitaNarain, and was addressed by a number of expert panelists including Anil Srivastava, principal consultant and mission director, National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, NitiAayog, Government of India; ManishaSaxena, secretary cum commissioner, Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi; Peter Mock, managing director-European operations, International Council on Clean Transportation; PrashantGargava, member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board; Neelkanth V Marathe, officiating director, Automotive Research Association of India; P K Banerjee, executive director (technical), Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers; Vijay Arora, chief operating officer, Mahindra Accelo and director, Mahindra Steel Service Centre Ltd; and Sohinder Gill, director general, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.

Kickstarting the discussions, Narain said: “With growing motorisation and obsolescence of vehicles,cities and regions are getting burdened with junk and grossly polluting vehicles. A well-designed policy at this stage can help to renew the fleet to leverage the new investment in BSVI emissions standards and acceleratefleet electrification for clean air.

CSE assessment – the key highlights 

Old vehicles – uncertain numbers: It is difficult to arrive at definitive numbers for older and end-of-life vehicles, as the vehicle registration database in India is cumulative and not corrected for retirement and scrappage. The VAHAN database under the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH)that records real time data,is an opportunity to clean up the database nation-wide — if all RTOs across the country clean up their respective databasesand link up with VAHAN effectively. A CPCB-GIZ study of 2016 estimates that as of 2015, there were more than 87 lakh end-of-life vehicles andthis would increase to 2.18 crore by 2025. Fortunately, India is not an importer of used vehicles, as local laws do not permit any vehicle that does not comply with the local standards. This has dampened the interest in the global trade in used vehicles. But vehicles in the domestic market change several hands and are used more intensely.

Age profile of the Indian fleet:In the absence of reliable estimates, several studies have relied on parking lot surveys and fuel retail outletsurveys to assess the age profile of vehicles in different cities. The CPCB carried out such surveys in 2015 in six cities and found that 13 per cent of trucks, 8 per cent of buses, 5 per cent of three-wheelers, 3 per cent of cars and 7 per cent of two-wheelers were above the 15-year age limit. Moreover, if a broad retirement curve of 20 years for vehicles is considered, then — as of 2018 — about 69 per cent of the total registered vehicles are expected to have survived. The growing fleet of obsolete vehicles poses serious threats to the environment and public health. Cities are already facing problems due to old, junk and abandoned vehicles. 

High pollution potential of older vehicles: Even though the older legacy vehicles are smaller in numbers, their contribution to the pollution load from vehicles can be disproportionately high. In its consultation note of 2018, the MoRTH had mentioned that although commercial vehicles (such as trucks and buses, taxies and three-wheelers etc) constitute only about 5 per cent of the total fleet,they contribute nearly 65-70 per cent of the vehicular pollution. Of these, the older commercial vehicles, typically manufactured before 2000,account for 15 per cent of the total vehicular pollution as these pollute 10-25 times more than a modern vehicle.Another 2013 study from the International Council on Clean Transportation estimates that in 2011,pre-2003 vehicles were about 23 per cent of the fleet but were responsible for about half of the particulate emissions from vehicles. IIT Bombay’s multi-city study in 2014 estimated that pre-2005 vehicles wereresponsible for 70 per cent of total pollution load from vehicles. In fact, old heavy-duty vehicles have higher impact in smaller cities and towns and contribution of old diesel cars and two-wheelers can vary between 8-23 per cent across cities. Fleet renewal of heavy-duty vehicles based on BSVI emissions standards can give significant benefits. For example, an old BS-I heavy-duty diesel vehicle is designed to emit 35 times higher particulate matter compared to a BSVI vehicle. As cities begin to take stronger action on old and junk vehicles, these will begin to crowd in other areas and transfer pollution. This programme, therefore, requires a national framework.

Fiscal stimulus package for green recovery: It is not yet clear if the central government will announce monetary incentives for targeted fleet renewal for market recovery and emissions gains in the post-pandemic period. The original draft version of the policy in 2018 is reported to havefocused on fleet renewal for commercial vehicles, especially old heavy duty vehicles, witha proposed age cap of 20 years and above. It was reported that about 2.8 lakh vehicles would be scrapped with monetary incentives that might reduce overall cost of new vehicles by about 15 per cent. It is not known yet how the scheme is to be announced. This is also expected to combine voluntary incentives from the industry.

CSE’s new reportargues that to maximise emissions gains from this initiative, it is important to prioritisethe scrappageofold heavy-duty vehicles and replace them with BSVI vehicles. Also, if the stimulus package is extended to personal vehicles (two-wheelers and cars), then the public incentive programme along with voluntary incentives from the industry should be linked with electric vehicles. This is needed as an accelerator to stay on course to meet the target of 30-40 per cent electrification of the fleet by 2030. The Delhi government, in its Electric Vehicle Policy, has already linked scrappage incentives with electric vehicles for 25 per cent electrification by 2024. A similar linkage is needed at the national level. Also, for national-level implementation, additional criteria for identifying grossly polluting and unfit vehicles based on fitness and roadworthiness, damaged vehicles, emissions performance etcare needed to guide the nation-wide programme. Age caps can work in pollution hotspots.

Policies on junk vehicles evolving in India – need stronger steps to upscale scrappage infrastructure: Polices related to older vehicles have already started to evolve in India. Clean air policies are leading to fixing of age of vehicles for phase-out in polluted cities. Delhi has banned 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles. Kolkata has phased out 15-year-old vehicles. Several clean air action plans for non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) have included old vehicle phase-out provisions. Currently, Section 59 of the amended Central Motor Vehicle Act of 2019 provides for fixing of age and restrictions on the plying of unfit vehicles. But this does not specify the criteria for defining end-of-life vehicles yet. On the other hand, the CPCB has taken the step to frame the ‘Guidelines on Environmentally Sound Facilities for Handling Processing and Recycling ELVs, 2019’ to minimise environmental hazards from the disposal of old vehicles. The notification of the Draft Vehicle Fleet ModernisationProgrammeis awaited.

These need to be enforceable to scale up scrappage infrastructure across the country. At the state level, Government of Delhi has notified its own scrappage policy in 2018 to enable setting up of proper scrapping infrastructure and compliance with the CPCB guidelines to facilitate the process of phasing out 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles. This process has started, but will have to be ramped up. This will also require action to integrate informal scrappers and dismantlers with adequate state support to set up common infrastructure for waste processing and treatment.

Proposed end-of-life regulations for vehicle manufacturers need further strengthening: The Automotive Indian Standard Committee under the aegis of the MoRTH has framed the Automotive Industrial Standard – 129 (AIS 129) standards on reuse, recycling and material recovery from vehicles in 2015. This requires 80-85 per cent of material used in manufacturing of vehicles by mass to be recoverable / recyclable / reusable at the end of life. It has restricted the use of heavy metals including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium etc. and asked for coding of plastics to inform dismantlers.

This establishes the manufacturer’s responsibility but has a deficiency — as it does not mandate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR regulations are essential to ensure that the manufacturers are responsible for the safe disposal of the waste from their products and produce safe productsfor lifetime use.AIS-129 says it has excluded this provision as“unviable” in an emerging market such as India.

But the proposed Indian rules are not as strong as the European regulations on end-of-life. European regulations require 85-95 per cent recoverability by mass.  Indian regulations have also included only two-wheelers and cars and not the goods vehicles within the scope of the rules. India has not yet adopted EPR to make the manufacturers take the responsibility of recycling their own products. Europe carries out coding of more materials.

Tap the global learning curve on green recovery: It is important to draw lessons from the major vehicle producing countries. Despite the pandemic and the resultant economic slow-down, governments across the world — as in Europe – have continued to link their stimulus packages with the electric mobility programme for a green recovery (as in Germany, Spain, Italy and France). The temporary stimulus measures must be leveraged well to maximise emissions gains.

The next steps

India has the opportunity to accelerate fleet renewal based on BSVI standards and zero emissions requirements to maximise public health benefits and material recovery. Designed well, this can ensure green recovery from the pandemic and lead to a long-term policy framework for environmentally sound vehicle end-of-life management practices.

• For fiscal stimulus package, prioritise replacement of heavy-duty diesel vehicles with BSVI vehicles.
• If cars and two-wheelers are included in the stimulus scheme, link scrappage incentive more explicitly with electric vehicles to enable 30-40 per cent electrification by 2030. Delhi has taken this approach.
• Make CPCB guidelines mandatory in states and link with the National Clean Air Programme.
• Reform AIS-129 to include EPR, increase recyclability requirememts, and include goods vehicles — a consolidated policy is needed as several agencies and ministries will be involved with enforcement. The MoRTH along with CPCB need to take the lead.
• Need state-level scrappage policies synced withthe national policy objectives for automobile industry to set clear milestones for scrappage infrastructure for safe dismantling, disposal and material recovery.
• Lay down criteria for selection of ELVs and unfit vehicles for a national programme.An age cap can work in pollution hotspots. Leverage vehicle inspection and certification (I/C)centres and remote sensing monitoring to screen grossly polluting vehicles.
• Scale up scrapping facilities with adequate environmental safeguards. But integrate the informal sector by providing support for common infrastructure for pollution control and hazard management. Enforce siting policy.
• Adopt other strategies to discourage old and polluting vehicles (such as stronger on-road emissions inspection, low emissions zones, tax measures etc)
• Clean up the vehicle database for accurate estimate of end-of-life vehicles.

Indian authorities are becoming serious about dealing with the atrocity of air pollution. Therefore, they have decided to penalize the old, polluting vehicles in the form of a Green Tax. Will it be effective in deteriorating vehicular pollution? Read more to find out.

Air pollution creates conspicuous adverse impacts on a country’s environment, health, and economy. Ambient air pollution was responsible for 0.98 million deaths in India in 2019. This number contributed to the 115.3 percent rise in the death rate between 1990 and 2019, attributable to ambient particulate pollution. A 139.2 percent statistical increase in the ambient ozone pollution-related fatalities also raises the red alarm in the world’s second-most populous nation. These facts converge on the pressing need for stringent measures to combat air pollution now more than ever.

The automobile sector is one of the top culprits that commit the felony of polluting air. Vehicular emissions contribute to 40-80 percent of the total air pollution. Among the total on-road traffic, heavy-duty vehicles comprise a meagre percentage yet generate a significant amount of air contaminants. The older the vehicle, the more the probability of it being critically polluting. Commercial vehicles, five percent of the total fleet, contribute up to 65-70 percent of vehicular pollution. On the other hand, vehicles older than 2000 comprise less than one percent of the traffic but contribute up to fifteen percent of the vehicular pollution. Statistically, older vehicles are 10-25 times more polluting than newer ones.

The Indian government is realizing the need of the hour and is striving in the right direction. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways gave a green flag to a proposal earlier this week. The proposal sought the imposition of a Green Tax on old vehicles that contaminate the environment.

After attaining a nod from the Union Ministry, the proposal will now go to the states for their verdict.

Moreover, the Union Ministry has also given a green signal to the scheme of deregistration and scrapping of time-worn vehicles registered in the name of government departments and PSUs. Thus, it would include vehicles that are above 15 years of age. This policy would come into effect from April 1, 2022.

The diverged revenue from the Green Tax would be an official investment to tackle air pollution. Dispersion among states would also take place to establish efficient monitoring stations to rein in the emissions. Hence, it would prove to be a long-term plan to knock-out air pollution.

The past decade has seen a sharp rise in the sale of personal automobiles across the country. In order to ensure emission standards are adhered to, the government has mandated frequent tests for vehicles to determine their fitness for use. However, every vehicle has an estimated life, and irrespective of how well an owner takes care of their automobiles, after a certain period, the automobile starts to pollute the environment. In this context, the recently introduced Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernization Program, or as it is better known, the vehicle scrapping policy is a forward-looking announcement by minister of road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari.

The new policy mandates the scrapping of commercial vehicles older than 15 years and private vehicles older than 20 years who fail to pass a fitness test at an authorized Centre. According to data by the ministry of road transport and highways, this decision would impact 51 lakh light motor vehicles that are more than 20 years old and 34 lakh vehicles that are over 15 years old. Additionally, this would also bring a check on 17 lakh medium and heavy commercial vehicles that are older than 15 years and without valid fitness certificates.

In order to encourage responsible scrapping of vehicles, the government has decided to provide 4-6 percent of the ex-showroom price of the new vehicle as an incentive. Additionally, vehicle manufactures will be advised to offer discounts up to 5% on presenting a scrapping certificate and registration fees on the new vehicles will be shelved. The policy exempts agriculture equipment and electric vehicles. The Centre has also proposed to state governments to provide up to 25 per cent discount on road tax for buyers who purchase electric vehicles after scrapping old automobiles.

This decision would not only help ensure the environment is protected, but also pave the way for a formal scrapping and recycling industry which is expected to generate 35,000 direct jobs. Additionally, the proposed framework will also support the local automotive sector in becoming the world’s third-largest market by the year 2026. The scrapping policy would also add to India’s “Make in India” mission and compliment Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision by encouraging investment, fostering innovation, enhancing skill development, and creating a world-class infrastructure.

I believe that the provisions to create an ecosystem for phasing out old, unfit and polluting vehicles would not only open avenues for recycling and the automobile industry but more importantly, ensure that environmental and healthcare concerns arising from it are addressed. Our country accounts for 2.5 million deaths per year because of air pollution. Research from across the world has further indicated how air pollution is one of the biggest causes of health concerns for all citizens. The Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in his briefing dated 27 October 2020 stated “It is found that pollution is contributing to mortality in COVID, that’s well established by studies”. A study published in the journal Cardiovascular Research also suggests that 15 percent of deaths across the world are linked with prolonged exposure to air pollution. Studies conducted in India also corroborate the correlation between caseload and areas with high usage of fossil fuels.

In addition to healthcare benefits, the scrapping policy is also going to reduce our imports bills on oil and metals required for the manufacturing of automobiles. This tried and tested model across the world has aided economies to recover from slowdown. Programs such as US’s Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) i.e. ‘Cash for Clunkers’, Germany’s ‘Umweltpramie’ and Canada’s ‘Retire Your Ride’ supported these countries to come out of the 2008 economic crisis. According to a study 28 million vehicles would be off the roads by 2024/25. That in itself is a huge business opportunity for banks and auto manufacturers.

The country has already made headways in establishing testing and scrapping infrastructure.  Now, while upscaling it, we need to integrate it with urban planning to allocate ample land resources to set up Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF). The scrapping industry would gradually evolve and diversify to accommodate both big and small businesses in rural India.  I hope the robust implementation of this program, by first targeting polluted cities, will reap optimum health and economic benefits for the country.