Can India cope with the growing tide of battery waste?
Why this matters now
According to Science Direct, global estimates put end-of-life lithium-ion batteries at more than 11 million tonnes a year by 2030, a volume that transforms batteries from a product issue into a systemic waste and resource problem.
India already generated roughly 700,000 tonnes of lithium battery waste in 2022, and projections show that figure rising substantially as electric vehicles, consumer electronics and stationary storage scale up (PV Magazine India, 2025). Left unmanaged, this growth will carry environmental, public-health and strategic supply-chain risks.
The risks are environmental, social, and strategic
Lithium-ion batteries contain valuable critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese), but also hazardous materials that can leach into soil and groundwater, or cause fires when stored or discarded improperly.
Informal or unsafe recycling (open burning, acid leaching) exposes workers and communities to toxins and destroys recoverable value. The twin outcomes are avoidable: pollution and lost strategic minerals that India increasingly needs for its clean-energy transition.
A Circular System Requires Consumer Involvement
Producer responsibility alone cannot solve the problem. Consumer behaviour plays an equal role.
Many batteries from portable electronics are thrown in household bins or mixed with general e-waste. Without consumer awareness, convenient return points and incentives, even the best recycling systems fail to capture batteries safely.
A shared responsibility model, where consumers return batteries correctly, and producers provide clear take-back pathways, is essential to reduce fire risks, improve traceability and increase material recovery.
Practical barriers we must solve:
• Collection and traceability: Batteries enter informal streams or are mixed with general e-waste, making safe handling and recovery difficult.
• Design and recyclability: Many products are not designed for disassembly, increasing cost and risk for recyclers.
• Regulation and enforcement: Rules such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) exist, but implementation is uneven and informal flows persist.
• Industrial capacity: Recycling capacity must scale quickly and safely, not by informal trade-offs, to process the incoming volumes. Recent industry studies and market reports highlight both urgent demand and nascent capacity growth in India.
The Universal Battery Recycling System (UBRS) – innovation built for real-world challenges
Recyclus Group has designed the Universal Battery Recycling System (UBRS), a mobile truck-based recycling solution built from our LiBatt plant technology.
UBRS directly addresses the gap in safe end-of-life solutions for portable and EV batteries:
• Safely processes all Li-ion batteries and future-proofed for vapes.
• Compact, fully sealed inert system – reduces fire, VOC (volatile organic compounds) and dust risks.
• ATEX-rated with integrated fire and VOC suppression.
• Single-operator use, 15-minute setup from drop to prime.
• Three truck sizes (7.5–16t) with processing rates of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 tonnes per hour.
• Enclosed bins for safe collection and transport to recycling hubs.
What problems does UBRS solve?
• Consumer battery return rates have plateaued.
• Rising fires linked to discarded batteries.
• Outdated UN transport packaging rules slow safe logistics.
• Inflexible standards hinder efficient collection and recycling.
• Growing demand for mobile, compliant, cost-effective solutions.
UBRS enables recycling where the batteries are – reducing transport risks, improving safety and unlocking circular value.
How India can turn the tide
1. Strengthen and enforce EPR so producers are accountable for collection, transport and end-of-life processing.
2. Deploy battery-level traceability to prevent leakage into informal channels and enable responsible secondary markets.
3. Promote design-to-dismantle standards that make disassembly, separation and black-mass recovery safer and more cost efficient.
4. Invest in formal industrial-scale recycling and refining to recover high-value materials for domestic supply chains.
5. Support consumer education and convenient return infrastructure to increase collection rates.
These measures reduce environmental harm, protect public health, and convert waste into feedstock for India’s electrification and manufacturing ambitions.
Why Recyclus Group is part of the solution
Recyclus Group has been operational at industrial scale since July 2023, processing significant volumes of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. We collaborate with partners across automotive, BESS, insurance and defence sectors to provide safe, compliant recycling and resource recovery.
Our systems prioritise safe discharge, controlled dismantling, and black-mass production that feeds secondary refining, turning hazardous waste into strategic material while meeting strict environmental and safety standards.
With UBRS, we extend this capability beyond fixed plants, delivering mobile, scalable and future-proof recycling.
A choice between crisis and circularity
India stands at a pivot point. The rising tide of battery waste could become an environmental and public-health crisis, or it could be the raw material backbone of India’s clean-energy economy.
With coordinated policy, robust enforcement, design changes and industrial-scale recycling, that waste becomes a domestic source of critical minerals and a strategic advantage.