Hidden Dangers
The Used Lead Acid Battery (ULAB) ecosystem in India plays a crucial role in managing waste while promoting recycling and sustainability. A comprehensive study on understanding the Used Lead Acid Battery (ULAB) ecosystem in India was recently published by Pahle India Foundation (PIF). While the sample size was understandably small and restricted to one city in the country, the findings that emerged are startling, given a highly active unorganised sector in the recycling battery disposal business that endangered workers, their families and the environment with exposure to lead poisoning. All this, when a lead battery’s main components, namely lead, plastic and acid, are almost 100% recyclable, with lead capable of being recycled almost infinitely with no loss of performance. Clean India Journal provides a summarised extract of the study as follows.
Industries and even green initiatives depend heavily on lead-acid batteries which are used in automobiles, trucks and other motorised vehicles for SLI (starting, lighting and ignition), as well as in power backup systems in telecommunications, railways, metro systems, hospitals, data centres, and industry, where uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is a necessity. They also play a crucial role in renewable energy systems.
Solar panels and wind turbines use lead-acid batteries to store excess or unused energy to ensure reliable power supply. In smaller towns and remote areas, where grid connections are difficult, off-grid solar activity prevails and remains heavily reliant on lead-acid batteries. While lithium-ion batteries are the primary choice for EVs, lead-acid batteries continue to serve as auxiliary ones. They are also used in smaller electric vehicles, such as three-wheelers (e-rickshaws) and some four-wheel electric cars.
The ULAB recycling ecosystem can be mapped as follows. Customers purchase new batteries from retailers, choosing between branded/formal batteries and generic/informal batteries based on their respective prices and quality. They then sell the used battery to the retailers for a discount on the purchase of a new battery, because of the deposit-refund scheme (DRS) in place. They may also choose to sell the ULAB to a door-to-door garbage collector or kabadiwala, in return for cash payment. Unsurprisingly, the prospect of an upfront payment in cash rather than a discount on a new battery, as well as the convenience of door-to-door collection, are highly appealing to consumers.
Retailers too may be approached by two types of recyclers, formal and informal. Retailers choose to give it to a regulated or unregulated recycler based on the payment they receive for the used batteries. Unregulated recyclers typically offer higher prices and a higher purchase frequency, given the dense collection network of the informal sector, allowing the retailer to benefit from lower storage costs and tax elimination. Many retailers may thus prefer selling ULABs to the unregulated sector. Both kinds of recyclers extract the lead and plastic from the batteries, with vastly different health and environmental consequences.
Regulated recyclers supply lead to formal battery remanufacturers, while unregulated recyclers supply the lead to informal battery manufacturers. The lead extracted by unregulated recyclers is typically of lower purity and cheaper. The remanufacturers then rebuild the batteries and sell them to retailers.
The informal or unregulated recycling process is often carried out in densely populated areas, with little to no pollution control or safety precautions. In the typical informal recycling process, the used battery cases are broken open using a machete or axe, the electrolyte (sulphuric acid) is dumped on the ground or into a sewer, the lead plates are removed by hand, and the separators are disposed of in a landfill. The lead plates are melted using a heat source, and the molten lead is then scooped out and poured into moulds to be sold to refiners and battery makers. Open smelting of lead, open disposal of the battery electrolyte, and dumping of furnace residues are evident in many cities, according to the study.
Unregulated operations leach considerable amounts of lead into the surrounding ecosystem, including the air, soil, and water, which leads to environmental degradation and negative impacts on human health. Lead dust is released when batteries are broken and lead components are melted, rising into the air and seeping into the ground.
Workers often touch lead components directly without gloves. Lead also ends up migrating to nearby communities on workers’ clothes, in hair, on shoes, on vehicle tyres, through storm water run-off, wind, disposal of contaminated waste, etc.
Since informal recyclers do not use pollution prevention technology or comply with applicable environmental and occupational safety regulations, they face lower fixed and operating costs. Their collection network of kabadiwalas (door-to-door garbage collectors) visits retailers and consumers more frequently than manufacturer representatives. The convenience of door-to-door collection in exchange for upfront payment is far more appealing for consumers and retailers than the prospect of dropping off used batteries at collection centres.
Given ULAB diversion to informal recyclers, formal recyclers face underutilised plant capacity and less feedstock than necessary to maintain operations. They are forced to depend on alternate sources of feedstock, such as remelted lead imports or even remelted lead from informal players. The study indicates that due to the lack of a robust collection process in the formal sector, formal recycling plants often operate below capacity.
Data required for sound and implementable policy amendments (e.g. proportion of market share of formal vs. informal recycling, processes used by informal smelters, price differentials between formal and informal systems, mapping of recycling hotspots, number of workers exposed etc.) remains scarce and out dated, given the difficulty of tracking informal sector activity.
Informal recycling of used lead-acid batteries is extremely dangerous for people and the environment. A systematic evaluation conducted in India reveals that blood lead levels (BLLs) among battery factory workers are over 10 times higher than those of healthy, age-matched controls. Various small-scale studies of battery workers in India report BLLs as high as 65.5 μg/dL. A review of studies from 37 developing countries finds that the average worker BLL is 47 μg/dL in battery manufacturing plants and 64 μg/dL in recycling facilities. For context, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines require medical removal of a worker if a BLL of 50-60 μg/dL is reached, permitting them to return to work only after 2 consecutive measurements below 40 μg/dL.
The CPCB SOP for ULAB Recycling notes that individuals with BLLs higher than 42 μg/dL should be shifted to non-lead activity areas until their BLL falls to below 10 μg/dL.
An assessment of prevalence of elevated blood lead levels and risk factors in eight districts of the city under study finds that more than 90% of children and 80% of pregnant women reported blood lead levels above 5 μg/dL. Children are particularly vulnerable because they absorb 4-5 times as much lead as adults from a given source, and can suffer from reduced intelligence, lower educational attainment and more delinquent and violent behaviour as a result of lead poisoning.
For children and adults alike, cumulative lead toxicity over time can attack the brain and nervous system and cause damage to multiple organs. Lead poisoning can cause adults to suffer from cardiovascular problems, immunotoxicity, and kidney damage. In pregnant women, high lead exposure can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, and low birth weight.
The Batteries Waste Management (Amendment) (BWMR), Rules 2022 mandate a formal battery collection system, authorising only specific agents to collect used batteries for recycling. However, on-ground implementation is reportedly delayed. Informal recycling continues to dominate the ecosystem due to lower costs and a more extensive collection network. The study also found there was a lack of awareness around lead poisoning and that most were unaware that the health challenges faced by them and their family could point to lead poisoning.
There was also little to no medical capacity for the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of lead poisoning near ULAB recycling hotspots.
The study suggests key policy recommendations to mitigate this issue including reducing taxes on used batteries to improve the cost-competitiveness of the formal sector; mandating a reverse logistics system to promote the collection of used batteries; institutionalising occupational guidelines and biological indices defining an action level of lead in blood; entrusting monitoring and evaluation to a third-party intermediary between industry and government; improving medical capacity for the diagnosis and treatment of lead poisoning near ULAB recycling hotspots; encouraging the mapping and remediation of contaminated sites; conducting targeted public health campaigns among workers, health professionals and consumers; promoting capacity-building of State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees; improving access to alternative livelihoods; and initiating cluster development for ULAB recycling units.
