 "Waste recycling image via Shutterstock.")
The recycling of plastics, electronic waste, and batteries can potentially create a market size worth $20 billion by 2030, said a recent report by the investment banking firm Avendus Capital.
Internationally, emphasis on sustainable development is becoming paramount with nations realising the criticality of stable economic development and the need for the resolution of environmental and social concerns.
In its report titled 'Circular Economy Recycling Waste to Wealth', the investment banking firm highlights these three segments of recycling that will drive India’s circular economy agenda in the coming years.
What is circular economy?
The circular economy is a system that is restorative or regenerative by design and involves eradicating the concept of ‘end-of-life’ for any material. It creates a regenerative ecosystem by redesigning the consumption and manufacturing system.
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Putting circular economy at the centre of sustainable development, the report talks about how it can provide a sustainable supply for India’s raw material demand. It opines ‘recycling’ as a fundamental component to bring critical changes in the complete supply chain of products.
Often referred to as a ‘last order process’ of circular economy, recycling is relevant across multiple industries and materials. Each segment has a different set of properties, processes, business models, growth trajectories, and economics.
‘Turning waste into quality secondary raw materials is on the policy agenda of many regulators,’ the report stated. To facilitate such a system India has set up an online Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) portal that tracks the production data of the companies and provides the EPR targets and EPR liabilities.
Plastic recycling
Around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated globally every year and less than 10 per cent of it is recycled. In India, data on plastic waste and its recycling rates is not well documented, the report states but estimates that around 13 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated and 60 per cent of it is recycled.
It also provides a landscape of the Indian plastic waste recycling industry, the size of which is estimated to be USD 2.3 billion in FY23. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24 per cent and reach USD 10.2 billion by FY30.
Growth drivers: New start-ups and certain packaging companies are increasing investments in this space including the rapid digitization and use of disruptive technologies. In addition to this, the high growth of e-commerce has led to increased use of plastics in packaging, and with COVID-19, this trend has only further accelerated.
E-waste recycling
Digitalisation across industries has led to an increased usage of electronic appliances. On the flip side, the average life of some common electronic devices like computers and mobile phones has reduced by 20-40 per cent in the last 8-10 years, building up to an increase in e-waste.
Growth drivers: The report estimates that e-waste recycling is most likely to grow at a 23 per cent CAGR to touch $7.5 billion by FY30. It talks about pushing an ‘urban mining’ venture to limit e-waste with the help of government and industry players.
Battery recycling
Batteries constitute the most critical component of EVs, contributing about 30-50 per cent of the cost of an EV, making it the ‘focal point’ of the industry. There is a growing demand for Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) in energy storage and consumer electronics products due to their high energy density. ‘It is expected that the Li-ion battery demand may cross 235 GWh by 2030 in India,’ the report states.
Recycling has become one of the key focus areas to reduce external dependency and secure the supply of raw materials for Li-ion cells. Moreover, scarce quantities of metals like nickel, lithium, and cobalt and complex extraction processes make recycling batteries an efficient method of sourcing these metals.
Growth drivers: The battery recycling market is expected to grow exponentially to about $2 billion by FY30, the report notes citing an increase in battery demand from multiple end-use segments including the EV industry, stationary storage, consumer electronics, and limited resource availability in India.
The Avendus report explains the pros and cons of adopting a circular economy in India and advises the commercial market to loop in India’s recycling capabilities for corporate growth, legislative support, and consumer sustainability. Against the ‘linear consumption model’ or the ‘take-make-waste’ system, the report puts the circular economy at centre stage to meet growing raw material demand.
