Across India, battery recycling faces a mixture of challenges and opportunities as it plays an important role in the country’s shift to clean power.
A fledgling system has taken off in the past decade for recovering materials from the batteries used in electric vehicles, smartphones, and other consumer electronics. The valuable minerals these companies recover — such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel — are then reused in India’s growing fleet of electric vehicles and solar power installations. Recycling and repurposing batteries is a key to reducing dependence on imports for hard-to-obtain metals.
“More than 40% of the country’s copper and aluminum needs are met by recycling scrap and we want to aspire for the same when it comes to lithium, cobalt, and nickel,” said Rajat Verma, founder and CEO of Lohum Cleantech, a seven-year-old battery manufacturing and recycling company based in Noida near India’s capital New Delhi.
A formalised system could potentially create 100,000 green jobs and meet nearly 40% of the country’s demand for key minerals, according to a November study by the renewable energy think tank RMI. The report found that an industry around recycling and reusing batteries could be worth $9 billion as India’s battery demand skyrockets, mostly due to EVs.
“What’s exciting about these materials is that they’re not like plastics. You can recycle them for perpetuity and they can still have material strength and the quality you need once you refine them,” said Marie McNamara, a manager with RMI’s India program and one of the authors of the report.
System implementation gaps
India currently has 60,000 tons of battery recycling capacity, but not all of it is used because supply chains are still being developed to supply recovered materials to factories. One reason is that most of India’s waste recycling is done by informal workers — estimated at four million — who deal with a variety of scrap materials beyond batteries and work without any formal contracts.
India is among the highest emitters of planet-heating gases as the world’s most populous nation provides power for billions of people. At the same time, its clean energy sector has grown rapidly, led by adoption of solar power and electric vehicles.
The government passed battery waste management rules in 2022 that mandate environmentally safe disposal and management of battery waste. But given the largely informal nature of scrap recycling in India, experts and recycling companies said the rule has been poorly implemented so far. Recycling in an environmentally friendly way remains another challenge.
The rules mandate that producers meet specific collection and recycling targets for various battery types. Heavy fines are prescribed for violators. However, there are no specific outlets for discarded batteries, and each company has to set up its own systems for recycling. Experts said a lack of a well-structured recycling industry makes it difficult for companies to implement the rules effectively.
Jaideep Saraswat, an energy expert with New Delhi-based Vasudha Foundation, said India has moved “surprisingly fast from a policy perspective,” but the right battery recycling supply chain is still missing.
Battery recycling process
A typical electric car battery is about 1.5 meters long, weighs up to 400 kilograms, and is usually designed to last for at least 160,000 kilometers, which is often reached after eight to twelve years of use. Up to 90% of an EV battery’s contents can be extracted after use if recycled properly.
Recycling processes vary, but two common methods are shredding battery modules into fine powder using machines or smelting them in industrial furnaces. The products of these processes are often processed using acids or other chemicals to recover specific metals.
Alternatively, discarded batteries can be repurposed to store excess solar and wind energy for homes and small shops. Repurposing involves testing the battery for defects and cleaning its components before reuse.
Toxic contaminants are at times dumped illegally by recyclers, causing environmental pollution, said Nishchay Chadha, CEO of US-based ACE Green Recycling, which has operations in India. If not done properly, recycling lithium batteries can emit carbon monoxide and other hazardous gases. The process also produces wastewater containing heavy metals that can contaminate soil and water if improperly disposed.
“We’ve not expanded much in India because we don’t see much appreciation for clean operations, whether it’s lead or lithium,” Chadha said.
RMI’s McNamara urged India to set up training programs to help scrap workers transition to formal jobs. She said the government, at both federal and state levels, should provide support to businesses that hire these workers.
“Formalisation will really help drive safety and accountability, especially considering that batteries are both defined by their toxicity as well as their potential,” she said.
Import dependence issues
Globally, critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt are essential for products ranging from smartphones to electric cars. China controls much of the supply chain through mining, refining, and processing, according to the International Energy Agency.
India doesn’t yet have any operational mines for lithium and some other key minerals and, like most of the world, depends on China. Energy experts said effectively recovering minerals from used products can meet an important domestic need.
However, India should take baby steps first, Chadha said. China takes recycling seriously because it is an important part of the supply chain, even if recycling alone is often unprofitable.
“They also actually lose money on recycling, but they look at it as part of the whole puzzle where recycling is critical, and they aim to make money across the entire value chain,” he said.
Others in the battery sector remain optimistic.
“If the momentum that is there in India today continues, in my opinion, we can probably create five multibillion-dollar giants in this industry,” Verma of Lohum Cleantech said.
Associated Press