India has Recycled 58.26 lakh tonnes of Battery Waste in 3 Years

In August 2022, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, to ensure the environmentally sound management of waste batteries.

These rules cover all types of batteries, including electric vehicle, portable, automotive, and industrial batteries. The rules are based on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept, under which producers, including importers of batteries, are assigned annual targets to collect and either recycle or refurbish waste batteries in proportion to the number of batteries placed on the market.

The rules mandate that producers use a minimum percentage of domestically recycled materials in the manufacture of new batteries from FY 2027-28 onward.

A centralised online EPR portal has been developed to register producers and recyclers, exchange EPR certificates, and file returns. So far, 4022 producers and 487 recyclers have been registered under these rules on the EPR portal. After the notification of these rules, around 58.26 lakh tonnes of battery waste have been recycled.

The EPR mechanism under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022, recognises only EPR certificates issued by registered recyclers. The EPR mechanism encourages formalisation of the informal sector by enabling revenue from exchanging EPR certificates with producers, in addition to revenue from the sale of recycled materials.

To upgrade the informal sector into a formal value chain, a project on ‘Informal Sector Capacity Building Upgradation with formation of recycling clusters under the Scheme ‘Micro & Small Enterprises Cluster Development (MSE-CDP) of MSME’ has been initiated by MeitY.

MeitY has transferred the cost-effective Li-ion battery recycling technology indigenously developed by the Centre for Material for Electronics Technology (C-MET) to several recycling industries and start-ups as part of Mission LiFE under ‘Promote circularity campaign’.

In May 2021, the Government approved the PLI-ACC scheme ‘National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’, with an outlay of Rs. 18,100 Crore for 50 GWh ACC capacity.

This initiative has catalysed Indian cell manufacturers to establish cell manufacturing units. In addition to PLI beneficiaries, more than 10 companies have announced plans to develop cell manufacturing units, totalling more than 100 GWh of additional capacity.

Furthermore, the Department of Science & Technology has extended financial support to startups like BatX Energies, which focuses on the commercialisation of a sustainable battery recycling process to extract battery-grade lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

The Ministry of Mines has launched the ‘Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme’ to develop the country’s recycling capacity for extracting critical minerals from secondary sources such as E-waste, spent Lithium-ion Batteries (LiBs), and other scrap.

Further, MoEF&CC facilitated the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between CSIR laboratories, like National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI) and Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), and recycler organisations, to facilitate technology transfer and technical support to establish state-of-the-art recycling infrastructure, support domestic waste recycling, and secure critical mineral supplies through advanced recycling processes.

Beyond government support, many new-age startups and companies have emerged to offer battery recycling and end-to-end e-waste and metal extraction. 

Beyond conserving finite resources, battery recycling is essential to prevent environmental contamination from toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and lithium, which can leach into soil and water from landfills, harming ecosystems and human health. It also prevents an energy-intensive mining process that emits significant greenhouse gases. Economically, it lowers production costs for new batteries, creates jobs in the recycling sector, and promotes a circular economy.