EV Battery and E-Waste Recycling in India

A few days ago, while selling old newspapers to a local scrap collector, he asked me for any electronic waste. When I enquired more about it, he mentioned that these days, electronic waste fetches him a good return.

Well, he is right. Electronic waste, or e-waste, contains significant amounts of metals such as copper, aluminium, and steel, and sometimes gold and silver, which yield higher returns than recycling newspapers and plastics.

Battery and e-waste recycling in India is highly unorganised and dominated mainly by local vendors, scrap collectors, and scrap dealers. However, things are slowly changing: over the last few years, many organised e-waste recyclers have emerged in India.

The primary driver of this emergence is the potential of electric-vehicle battery recycling. To date, smartphone recycling has been the primary focus of e-waste recyclers in India, but with the growth of the electric vehicle market, this will change.

With the growth of 2W, 3W, 4W, EV storage, and other EV battery-related products, there will be a proliferation of bigger batteries as well. The lithium-ion batteries typically used in Indian electric vehicles contain metals such as cobalt and nickel, which command higher margins than other components in electronic waste. 

EV Battery and e-waste recycling in India will not only reduce the environmental impact of mining but also reduce India’s dependence on countries such as China. According to consultancy firm JMK Research, recycling in India represents a $1 billion opportunity.

EV Battery and E-Waste Recycling Companies in India

Let us look at a few electric vehicle batteries and e-waste recyclers in India. 

Attero Recycling

Attero specialises in end-to-end e-waste and metal extraction and is one of India’s oldest e-waste recyclers. The company has a pan-India network connecting stakeholders across the value chain, including manufacturers, consumers, waste pickers, and aggregators. Attero Recycling’s client list includes India’s major automobile manufacturers, such as MG Motor, Tata Motors, and Hyundai Motor Company.

• Founded in: 2008
• HQ: Noida, Delhi NCR

Exigo Recycling

Exigo Recycling is a recycling company that manages e-waste and electronic assets. Started by a former Attero employee, Exigo collects and recycles all types of computers, electronics, media, and communications equipment. 

• Founded in: 2012
• HQ: Noida, Delhi NCR

Namo eWaste Management

Name eWaste is into the extraction of metals from e-waste and the separation of the hazardous content present in the waste. The Faridabad-based company sends the extracted metals and plastics to the respective foundries for moulding into various items. For example, the aluminium extracted from refrigerators is moulded into secondary aluminium, which is used in the automobile industry.

• Founded in: 2014
• HQ: Faridabad, Haryana

Lohum

Lohum is an integrated lithium-ion battery manufacturer and recycling solution company. The Noida-based company recovers battery materials such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and graphite and reuses them to make new batteries. Lohum has tied up with the Electric two-wheeler startup Okinawa Autotech.

• Founded in: 2018
• HQ: Noida, Delhi NCR

Binbag Recycling

Binbag leverages technology to collect and recycle e-waste in formal channels. They operate two plants in Andhra Pradesh and Assam to recycle ACs, computers, and laptops, among other electronic waste items.

• Founded in: 2014
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Ace Green Recycling

Ace Green Recycling is a battery recycling startup which has developed an electric-powered, emission-free lead-acid battery recycling technology. The startup is also working on recycling Lithium-Ion batteries and other kinds of e-waste.

• Founded in: 2019
• HQ: Singapore

Wrapping Up

It is not just these startups that have entered the EV battery and e-waste recycling space; prominent Indian corporates have also entered.

Tata Chemicals, which has a tie-up with Tata Motors, has launched its lithium-ion battery recycling operations in Mumbai; Mahindra is also exploring recycling options.

Recycling electronic waste does not mean a company can recycle EV batteries; the chemicals in batteries require different expertise.

Therefore, if e-waste recyclers in India are to succeed in recycling EV batteries, they must ramp up their skills, investments, operations, logistics, and infrastructure.

In addition to handling chemicals, EV battery recycling entails environmental and health risks: chemicals can harm factory workers and contaminate soil and groundwater. 

While India has had laws governing e-waste since 2016, the country will introduce regulations around the effective disposal and recycling of lithium-ion batteries. This will help create an ecosystem of manufacturers, assemblers, and recyclers to ensure used batteries are collected and recycled.

Like the Vehicle Scrappage policy, which will usher in a transformation in the handling of vehicle scrap, a policy on e-waste recycling in India could transform the circular economy space.