Attero Recycling
India's largest lithium-ion recycler with 98% metal recovery — the domestic anchor for EPR compliance under the Battery Waste Rules.
Footage · Jyoti Veriton · YouTube
11,000 t/yr
Recycling capacity
Lithium-ion battery processing at Roorkee facility
approx. 98%
Metal recovery rate
Claimed recovery of lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese
2011
Company founded
Started in e-waste recycling before battery focus
approx. 15+
Patents held
Proprietary hydrometallurgical recovery processes
2022 BWM Rules
Regulatory driver
Extended Producer Responsibility for batteries
Roorkee, UK
Facility location
Single largest declared Li-ion recycling site in India
2011
Company founded to recycle e-waste and electronics, later expanding into battery and metal recovery technologies.
2016-2018
Develops proprietary hydrometallurgical process for lithium-ion battery recycling, files multiple patents on metal recovery.
2022
Battery Waste Management Rules notified, creating EPR obligations for producers and importers of batteries in India.
2022-2023
Roorkee facility scaled to approx. 11,000 t/yr lithium-ion battery processing capacity, positioned as domestic EPR compliance partner.
2023
Company announces plans for larger gigafactory-scale recycling and precursor (cathode material) production capacity in India.
2023-2024
Signs offtake and recycling partnerships with EV makers, cell manufacturers and battery importers for compliance and material recovery.
Attero's Roorkee plant is India's largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility, processing 11,000 t/yr of end-of-life cells with a claimed approx. 98% metal recovery rate. It anchors domestic EPR compliance under the Battery Waste Management Rules, giving OEMs, cell-makers and financiers a bankable, India-based recycling partner instead of relying on export of black mass or unverified informal recyclers.
Under India's Battery Waste Management Rules, producers, importers and assemblers face binding EPR targets requiring documented recycling of end-of-life batteries. Tenders for EV fleets, BESS and telecom battery storage increasingly ask bidders to name empanelled recyclers and show mass-balance recovery data. Green finance and PPP structures for storage should embed recycler offtake clauses, and DISCOM or SECI storage tenders can reference domestic recycling capacity as a resilience and local-content criterion.
Engineering, procurement and finance lessons
01
EPR compliance needs a domestic anchor recycler
Producers and importers under the Battery Waste Management Rules must show verifiable recycling credits. Relying solely on unorganised scrap dealers or export of black mass creates compliance risk; developers and OEMs should build long-term offtake agreements with certified domestic recyclers early in project planning.
02
Recovery rate claims need independent verification
High recovery percentages quoted by recyclers should be validated through third-party audits and mass-balance data before lenders count recycling revenue or EPR credits in financial models. Structuring covenants around audited recovery certificates protects both financiers and EPR-obligated producers.
03
Battery recycling is a materials-security play, not just waste management
Recovered lithium, cobalt and nickel can feed back into domestic cathode and precursor manufacturing, reducing import dependence. Developers building cell or pack manufacturing should evaluate co-location or supply linkages with recyclers to hedge critical mineral price and supply risk.
04
Feedstock aggregation is the real bottleneck
Recycling capacity utilisation depends on steady collection of end-of-life batteries from EVs, telecom towers and grid storage. Bankable projects need contracted collection networks and reverse-logistics tie-ups with OEMs, distributors and municipal bodies, not just processing capacity.
05
Green finance should price in circularity credits
Lenders and green bond frameworks can attach lower risk weights or preferential terms to storage projects with documented end-of-life recycling tie-ups, since this reduces environmental liability and improves ESG scoring for battery-based RE and storage assets.
Sources · Economic Times · Reuters · Livemint · Business Standard · Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (India)
- Structuring EPR-compliant offtake and recycling agreements for battery, EV and storage project developers.
- Advising lenders on due diligence frameworks for recycling capacity, recovery audits and mass-balance verification.
- Designing PPP and tender clauses that link storage procurement to certified domestic recycling and circularity credits.