Urban Mining: India’s E-Waste Market and Its Unseen Workers

Mohammad Abrar’s Daily Life

Mohammad Abrar, 50, starts his day at 4 am, coughing and wheezing. He heads to Seelampur, a bustling neighborhood in New Delhi, home to India’s largest e-waste market. Narrow lanes are filled with small shops overflowing with discarded electronics like computers, phones, TVs, microwaves, washing machines, ACs, and end-of-life batteries.

Informal Workers of Seelampur

Abrar is one of over 50,000 informal workers, including women and children, who sift through discarded goods to recover valuable materials for recycling and reuse in modern technologies. These workers form the backbone of a rapidly growing network of start-ups seeking to extract energy transition minerals from e-waste through “urban mining”.

A Treasure Trove of Metals and Minerals

Seelampur’s e-waste market is a goldmine for highly-coveted metals and minerals needed to shift from fossil fuels to clean energy systems and combat climate change. Charging cables contain copper, a conductive metal used in electricity-related technologies. Aluminum in electronic components is used to manufacture solar panels.

Batteries are the most sought-after items. Most electronics, like mobile phones, laptops, and vapes, use batteries containing lithium, cobalt, and nickel. These minerals are also used to make batteries for electric vehicles and store renewable energy.

‘Toxic Sink’

Abrar collects e-waste daily and transports it to traders who sell valuable parts and metals to recycling companies. Handling hazardous waste is grueling and dangerous work for little pay.

Workers in the market open worn batteries and electrical devices using stones and hammers, and heat is used to extract iron, aluminum, and gold, releasing toxic fumes that give the market its nickname of ‘toxic sink’.

From E-Waste to Batteries

Metastable Materials, a Bengaluru-based start-up, sources lithium-ion batteries from disused electronics at Seelampur’s market to recover minerals like lithium and cobalt for making new batteries.

Hidden Workers

Despite handling valuable hazardous waste, Abrar earns only $6-$7 a day with no social protection. New players in the recycling space should regularize informal workers in the supply chain and provide them with a fair share of the proceeds.

Urban Mining Opportunity

Urban mining offers India a vast opportunity to secure supplies of crucial minerals for its growing electric scooters, bikes, and three-wheeler vehicle market. The world’s most populous country, building its battery manufacturing industry, is 100% dependent on imports for battery minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, including from China, the world’s largest processor of transition minerals.

A Toxic Timebomb

Global efforts to scale the recycling industry are urgently needed. In 2022, 62 million tonnes of e-waste ended up in landfills, according to the United Nations. Only around a fifth of e-waste was formally collected and recycled.

Turning Waste into Ores

Founded by two Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee graduates in 2021, Metastable aims to turn battery waste back into ores. Recycling lithium-ion batteries is challenging due to energy-intensive processes that leave few minerals to recover or highly chemical processes that generate chemical waste.

The Right to Decent Work

As India expands its recycling capacity, international calls to formalize work in e-waste markets are growing. Last year, a United Nations panel called for justice and equity in transition minerals supply chains, including at the recycling stage.