The report has been released by NITI Aayog in collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

• Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products.

Challenges in Circularity of E-Waste

• Informal and inefficient collection: Approximately 78% of India's total E-waste is processed by the informal sector, achieving material recovery rates of only 10-20% compared to 95-97% in formal facilities.
• Weak monitoring & enforcement: Manipulation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. E.g. spurious EPR certificates.
  • Limited EPR coverage: Only a few metals dominate, Iron (52%), Copper (18%) etc.; critical minerals (such as Lithium and Cobalt) remain neglected.
• Low technical capacity: Lack of skills and technologies for efficient, safe, and scalable recycling.

Recommendations:

• Strengthen Waste Management Rules: Monitoring of recyclers through an expanded of EPR coverage to include high-value metals.
• Provide Incentives: Additional incentives proposed for manufacturers of Advanced Chemistry Cells under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI).
  • Integrate Battery recycling into the Indian Carbon Market, allowing recyclers to monetize Green House Gas (GHG) emission reductions.
• Informal Sector Integration: Use the single-window system; establish a separate vertical in National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) only on recycling.
• Other:  Consumer awareness; skilling and re-skilling of workforce, etc.