The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022. These new rules will replace the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001.
Covering all types of batteries, viz., electric vehicle batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries, these rules function based on the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), where the producers (including importers) of batteries are responsible for the collection and recycling/refurbishment of waste batteries and use of recovered materials from wastes into new batteries.
EPR mandates that all waste batteries be collected and sent for recycling/refurbishment, prohibiting disposal in landfills and incineration. To meet the EPR obligations, producers may engage themselves or authorise any other entity to collect, recycle or refurbish waste batteries.
The rules promote the setting up of new industries and entrepreneurship in the collection and recycling/refurbishment of waste batteries. Online registration and reporting, auditing, and committee for monitoring the implementation of rules and taking measures required to remove difficulties, as per the Government of India, are salient features of rules for ensuring effective implementation and compliance.
On the Polluter Pays Principle, environmental compensation will be imposed for non-fulfilment of Extended Producer Responsibility targets, responsibilities, and obligations set out in the rules. The funds collected under environmental compensation shall be utilised in collecting, refurbishing, or recycling uncollected and non-recycled waste batteries.
Dr Akshay Singhal, Founder and CEO of Log9 Materials, noted, “The newly introduced Battery Waste Management standards by the Government under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept addresses two important concerns: first, an efficient and effective waste management of all Li-Ion batteries that are nearing the end of their useful life and are expected to end up in landfills in a few years, avoiding any residual pollution impact. And secondly, it emphasises the importance of investing in and nurturing the recycling of these used batteries, hence reducing the reliance on fresh resource mining.”
Shubham Vishvakarma, CEO and Chief of Process Engineering of Metastable Materials said it is a much-needed step towards bringing to the fore innovations and myriad growth opportunities for the battery waste management and battery treatment space in the country, especially at a time when the ongoing EV boom in India is leading to increasing concerns on e-waste. Under the new Rules notified, the Government has mandated a minimum percentage of recovery of various materials from end-of-life batteries -- which is bound to enable the growth of novel business models such as urban mining to reduce India’s foreign dependency on procuring raw materials for EV batteries and other types of batteries.
He said, “We are happy to note that the utilisation of certain amount of recycled/recovered materials in terms of manufacturing of new batteries has been prescribed; this has the potential to be proved to be a game-changer in the long run in boosting a circular economy concept across various industry sectors.”