Major lead-acid battery manufacturers in India have raised significant concerns with the Centre regarding mandatory recycling certificate purchases for batteries they themselves recycle. According to reports from Business Standard, manufacturers argue that units which collect used batteries and pay for their recyclation through captive recycling units or third-party authorised recyclers should not be compelled to buy certificates for those products. The Indian Battery Manufacturers Association (IBMA) has expressed these concerns to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change through two representations since March this year.
The IBMA's opposition was triggered by the rollout of an electronic trading platform developed by MSTC for buying and selling battery-recycling certificates earlier this year. As reported by Business Standard, during training sessions for this platform, IBMA members were informed that all certificate transactions would now take place through the platform, with buyers and sellers remaining anonymous until trades were completed. The association has stated that this electronic trading platform will cause huge injury to the industry and lead to the vitiation of the objectives of the BMWR, 2022, in establishing a circular economy for lead.
The IBMA counts Exide Industries, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, Luminous Power Technologies, Livguard Energy Technologies, and Okaya Power as its members. According to sources privy to the matter, the association has proposed a separate trading window that would allow direct transfers of certificates between captive recyclers and their parent manufacturers under bilateral commercial arrangements. The IBMA has also raised similar issues for batteries replaced under warranty, stating that certificates generated from such batteries should not be available for purchase by other producers because the manufacturer has already borne the costs of collecting and recycling them.
Under the Battery Waste Management Rules (BWMR), 2022, battery makers are required to ensure that a prescribed proportion of the batteries they sell are eventually collected and recycled after the end of their useful life. When an authorised recycler recycles used batteries and recovers materials such as lead, it generates an 'extended producer responsibility' (EPR) certificate corresponding to the quantity recycled. Battery makers use these certificates to demonstrate that they have met their recycling obligations under the Rules. The association has suggested that minimum certificate prices should be removed, and let markets determine their value.
