The circular economy (CE) has been frequently in the news recently, as it offers a regenerative system that substitutes the end-of-life concept with restoration. Despite several benefits yielded by the CE from a triple-bottom-line perspective, India’s end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling sector is striving against numerous impediments to implementing the CE approach. Therefore, this paper attempts to shine a spotlight on India’s ELV recycling sector, to identify the potential drivers and barriers to CE implementation. This study has employed an explorative approach to determine the impediments and drivers regarding implementing CE in India’s ELV recycling sector. This research reveals that economic viability (25 percent), environmental degradation (17 percent), and global agenda (15 percent) are the three leading primary drivers. In contrast, limited technology (18 percent), financial constraints (15 percent), and a lack of knowledge and expertise (12 percent) are significant barriers that thwart CE implementation in India’s ELV recycling sector. This paper has made the first attempt to explore the drivers and barriers to implementing CE in the ELV recycling sector in India. Therefore, besides advancing our understanding of opportunities for and threats to implementing CE, this investigation may assist the Indian authorities in devising appropriate policies and strategies and developing a regulatory and legal framework that is conducive to CE and sustainability.
Over the last couple of decades, the automobile sector in India has seen dramatic growth, following the phenomenal booming of engenders rapid proliferation of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). Therefore, efficient and sustainable handling of ELVs is paramount. India has been striving to establish a practical regulatory framework to handle ELVs sustainably. This study explores India’s current ELV recycling system to promote sustainable development. Subsequently, this article evaluates the present ELV recycling system to determine the existing issues in ELV recycling to prevent failure and enhance and standardize the processes involved in ELV recycling to achieve the optimum standard for product and process quality. This paper proposes pragmatic frameworks and offers recommendations for setting up an efficient ELV recycling system to resolve current issues and expedite sustainable development. This study has been performed through a mixed-method approach; a literature and policy review accompanied by detailed structured interviews with major stakeholders and industrial visits. This investigation reveals that India’s ELV recycling system is at the embryonic stage and struggling against numerous inherent impediments. However, the proposed frameworks, together with practical recommendations, provide a paradigm for expediting materials recycling from ELVs and resolving perennial issues. This research may assist the government of India in implementing any upcoming regulatory and legal framework.
The growing number of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) engenders a genuine concern for achieving sustainable development. Properly recycling ELV is paramount to checking pollution, reducing landfills, and conserving natural resources. The present study evaluates the sustainability of India's ELV recycling system from techno-socio-economic and environmental aspects as an instrumental step for assessing performance and progress. This investigation has performed the Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analysis to evaluate ELV recycling in the long-term viability and examine the critical factors and potential. This research makes practical recommendations for effectively encountering persistent challenges in the ELV recycling system based on Indian values. This research adopts an explorative and Integrated bottom-up mixed approach; it interfaces qualitative and quantitative data and secondary research. This study reveals that the social, economic, technological, and environmental aspects of the sustainability of India's ELV recycling system are comparatively limited. The SWOT analysis demonstrates that potential market size and resource recovery are more significant strengths, whereas lack of an appropriate framework and limited technology are major challenges in the recycling of ELVs in India. Sustainable development and economic viability have emerged as great opportunities, while informality and environmental impact have surfaced as primary potential threats to ELV recycling in India. This paper offers insights and yields critical real-world data that may assist in rational decision-making and developing and implementing any subsequent framework.
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