Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, and Japanese general trading and project management company Toyota Tsusho Group today announced plans to set up a 50:50 vehicle dismantling and recycling joint venture, christened 'Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India' (MSTI).

Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India, which will be headquartered in New Delhi, will set up the vehicle dismantling and recycling unit in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in FY2021. MSTI will procure and dismantle end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The process will include complete solid and liquid waste management as per the Indian laws and globally approved quality and environment standards.

According to the partners, the facility in Noida will be the first unit by MSTI and the JV will add more such units across India. The Noida unit will have an initial capacity to dismantle around 2,000 vehicles per month, and MSTI will source vehicles from dealers and also directly from customers.

Announcing the initiative, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said: “Maruti Suzuki strongly believes in responsible recycling of vehicles after end of its useful life. Through this joint venture, we aim to promote recycling and support in resource optimisation and conservation while using environment-friendly systems and processes. Scrapping of older vehicles in a scientific and environment-friendly manner will help to reduce pollution and also make the roads safer. A team of experts at MSTI will dismantle the vehicles using international technology and global standards.”

Naoji Saito, CEO (metal division), Toyota Tsusho Corporation, said, “Toyota Tsusho has started ELV recycling since the 1970s in Japan. We believe that we will be able to contribute to Indian society through our knowledge and experience for ELV business. The first vehicle dismantling and recycling unit of MSTI is just the initial step and we are eager to expand to an all-India base with Maruti Suzuki.”

With this move, Maruti Suzuki India becomes the second company in the country to set up a vehicle dismantling facility. In December 2018, Mahindra Accelo and MSTC (a government of India enterprise under the Ministry of Steel) had formed a JV called Mahindra Cero, the country's first authorised recycler for motor vehicles, with the first plant also being in Noida. Mahindra Cero has a capacity to process 25,000-30,000 vehicles per annum.

As per the government, an estimated 28 million end-of-life vehicles across categories will be ready to be scrapped by April 2020.