India bets on e-waste for critical minerals from Junk to high tech

India is cashing in on the growing e-waste sector, pulling critical minerals like lithium and cobalt from everyday electronics. India generated nearly 1.5 million tonnes of e‑waste including lithium, cobalt and nickel last year, according to official data. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government approved a $170‑million programme which builds on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules and helped e-waste industry. 

Raman Singh, Managing Director at Exigo Recycling said  "I think EPR has acted as a primary catalyst in terms of bringing scale to this industry. So, since the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility norms and the subsequent steps that have been taken to ensure its implementation, I think we've been able to see a lot of scaling up and lot of expansion of installed capacity in the country. And I think going forward, for an organization like ours, a business of our scale, and many others, it ensures that we have direct access to material."

At Exigo Recycling's sprawling plant in Haryana state, a machine churns the batteries from e-scooters into a jet-black powder. The material is then leached into a wine‑red liquid, filtered, evaporated and finally transformed into lithium.