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border-style: none none solid none; padding-bottom: 1pt;" CLASS="Body-0020Text">Recent Indian Policy Initiatives in Lead Battery
Scrap Management and their Impact on the domestic Demand-Supply Gap
of Lead

Dr. V. Rajagopalan
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Environment & Forests
India

Supply-Demand of lead scrap in India

1.1�Of the global lead mine production of 4,54,000 MT in the year 2000,
Indias share was merely 1%. The production of lead in India from primary
sources accounts for nearly two thirds of the total lead production
in the country whereas, the world over, the production from secondary
smelters accounts for nearly 60% of the total production of lead.

1.2�The production of lead in India has� almost remained static
during the last ten years. However, during the same period, the demand
has more than doubled and this has led to a widening supply-demand gap
situation.� In fact, production of lead has marginally declined
from a� level of 64,116 MT in 1992-93 to 59,013 MT in the year
2000-01.� Against this, the actual demand for lead has gone up
from a level of 55,000 MT in 1992-93 to 1,22,600 MT in the year 2000-01.

1.3�It is significant to note that whereas the average growth rate
in consumption of lead for all countries is merely 2.5% over the period
1997-2000, in India, lead consumption has grown at the rate of 10.5%
during the same period.� The steep growth in lead consumption in
India is primarily due to the sharp rise in automobile production as
a result of economic and market liberalisation. Substantial increase
in use of lead acid batteries in domestic inverters and UPSs for computers
is also a major contributing factor.� Assuming a moderate demand
growth of 6% per annum, the annual demand for lead is expected to be
around 3,16,000 MT by the year 2016-17.� Even if we presume that
all the capacity additions planned in the organized sector during the
next 15 years materialize, the supply-demand gap is expected to be around
1,64,2000 MTs by the year 2016-17.��

1.4�It needs to be noted that the projections above do not take into
account the demand for lead in the unorganized sector engaged in assembling/
reconditioning of batteries and also supply of lead from the unorganized
sector consisting of backyard smelters.� It is recognized that
the supply of lead from the unorganised sector is substantial.�
However, there is no reliable estimates of its magnitude.

1.5�From industry sources, it has been gathered that import of lead
metal was around 60,000 MT during 2000-2001. The industry sources have,
taking into account the role of the unorganized sector, provided a rough
estimate of the total lead demand in India based on current levels of
vehicle production, vehicle population and assumptions regarding battery
life, etc. The details would be presented in the workshop.

The demand-supply gap may be bridged by one or more of the following:

Expansion of existing primary smelter capacities




Increase in the secondary smelter capacities




Imports.

Limited availability of lead concentrate is a major inhibiting factor
both for capacity expansion in existing smelters and for establishing
new primary smelters. Inter-alia, given that the Basel Ban Amendment
is already being acted upon by Annex-VII countries although officially
the amendment is not yet in force, there is limited scope for import
of lead battery scrap.

2.�Legislation on Battery Scrap

2.1�In order to regulate collection of lead acid batteries and channelise
batteries scrap to recycling facilities adopting environmentally sound
processing technologies, the Batteries (Management & Handling) Rules,
2001 have been notified. The salient features of the Rules are as follows:

Salient features of Batteries legislation

Consumers to return used batteries and manufacturers / assemblers
/ reconditioners / importers responsible for collection of batteries
and transport to registered recyclers.


Auction of used batteries only in favour of registered recyclers


Dealers are also responsible for collection.


Level playing field


Collection of batteries 50% in the first year, 75% in the second year
and 90% from the third year onwards.


Batteries h</span><span class="Body-0020Text-0020Indent--Char" style=" font-family: 'Tahoma', 'Arial';
">ave been categorized.

2.2�Since 1999, a scheme for registration of re-processors of used
lead acid batteries has been operationalised. Prior to grant of registration,
inspection of facility is a must and in atleast ten percent of the cases,
a second inspection is also undertaken. In addition to compliance with
the regulatory standards, reprocessing units are required to follow
the prescribed code of practice for environmentally sound management
(ESM) of lead acid batteries and possess proper facilities for disposal
of wastes, the sludge, in particular.� The air pollution control
system stipulated in the ESM code would ensure that stack emissions
would not exceed 10mg / Nm<sup>3 for lead and 50mg / Nm<sup>3
for total particulate matter. Secured land fill facility for disposal
of sludge should have a leachate collection system and meet the tolerance
limit prescribed for heavy metals, namely, cadmium, lead and nickel.
The sludge produced by the reduction of lead in the furnace has to be
reprocessed atleast twice so as to bring down the lead content in sludge
and render it fit for disposal in a landfill.

2.3�As earlier stated the scheme for registration of recyclers has
been in operation for about two years. Uptill now, 35 units have been
granted registration following the procedure described above. As a result,
today, there is a fair distribution of Units with environmentally sound
reprocessing capability in the country. This has helped avoid transportation
of lead metal scrap over long distances.

2.4�The new legislation enforced in tandem with the registration scheme
would ensure that battery scrap is processed only by Units possessing
ESM facilities. In addition, unauthorised backyard smelters and traders
have been barred form taking part in auctions of battery scrap thereby
choking supply channels of backyard smelting which poses serious problems
by way of uncontrolled lead emissions and discharge of acid into the
open ground / sewers. It is well recognised that poor lead recovery
in the backyard smelters (around 30-40%) has been the primary cause
for lower share of secondary lead production in the country. The rules
also provide for an elaborate reporting system, which would help keep
track of flow of lead in the economy. It is significant to note that
the new legislation has already spurred substantial capacity addition
in the organized sector of secondary smelting. Hindustan Zinc Limited
and Binani Zinc Limited have announced plans to set up secondary smelters
of capacity 35,000 MT and 25,000 MT respectively.

�

3.�Operational aspects of battery channelisation

3.1�The All India Battery Manufacturers Association (AIBMA) has intimated
that the flow of battery scrap prior to Batteries Legislation was approximately
as follows: