UNCTAD Project for India
Developing a National Strategy for Sustainable Management of Materials and
Resources in India
Focusing On the Case Of Lead Recovery from Used Lead Acid Batteries
Slide 1
The project has been submitted by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF), nationally co-sponsored by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) and the
India Lead Zinc Development Association (ILZDA). Project implementation will also be
supported by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG), the Secretariat of
the Basel Convention (SBC) and the UNCTAD secretariat. The proposal targets a
national policy dialogue for facilitating policy co-ordination and a process of policy reform
to address specific national needs and priorities, including the required thematic
research. The proposal pays special attention to reforming and upgrading the
environmental, occupational and economic performance of small and medium-sized
companies, including the design and implementation of training programs.
Slide 2
Objectives
The project aims at creating a national, multi-stakeholder panel of experts with the
following objectives:
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To develop a holistic national strategy that combines sustainable
material/resource management and sound waste management of lead.
To ensure that the strategy is environmentally and occupationally sound, socially
acceptable and economically viable.
Embody all sectors of the lead industry in India in the national strategy and
package their interests in order to form effective and efficient collection and
recycling infrastructure.
Introduce short and medium-term measures for improving the environmental
performance of battery re-conditioners and small smelters in the informal sector
and gradually “formalising” them into the collection and servicing infrastructure of
licensed battery recyclers and battery manufacturers.
Design and implement information, lobbying and capacity building activities that
ease the development and implementation of the comprehensive national
strategy and increase the number of eco-friendly recycling plants.
Slide 3
Case Study
The project will use the case of used lead acid batteries (ULAB) as the material
resource.
The Strategy will be implemented a trial basis in an interested Province or State under
the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment and Forest (MoEF). The outcome of
the trial will assist the Indian Government in submitting a project proposal to the World
Bank/Asian Development Bank seeking structural adjustment funding support for nationwide implementation of the holistic strategy.
Slide 4
Activities
Desktop Analysis
A desktop study on lead demand and supply in India, battery waste generation, the
domestic supply-demand gap and ways of bridging from domestic and imported sources.
It will also include an investigation of current practices of battery collection,
reconditioning, recycling and methods of waste disposal in both the formal and informal
sectors. The desktop study should also give some direction on suitable approaches for
launching trials of the national strategy in designated areas.
Slide 5
Activities
Creation of a multi-stakeholder panel of experts
A multi-stakeholder panel of experts, including government representatives in their
individual capacity, will be set up to advise the Government on developing and
implementing a comprehensive national strategy on sustainable collection and recycling
of ULAB, and the realization of environmentally sound management (ESM).
Trial of the comprehensive national strategy in a designated area
All or parts of the comprehensive national strategy will be tested as a Pilot Program in an
interested Province or State or even a large urban conurbation. Such “learning-by-doing
process” will be in partnership with local communities and stimulate the discussions of
the multi-stakeholder panel thereby avoid obvious pitfalls at national level at some later
date.
Slide 6
Activities
Training Kit
A training kit consisting of a reader friendly material (translated into local dialects) on
environmentally sound management (ESM) for small-scale lead smelting will be
developed. Appropriate technologies and best operating practices conducive to ESM will
be outlined.
The kit will also include specific training modules covering the broader and more specific
aspects of potential environmental and health hazards related to lead recovery and
appropriate working methods and processes that significantly reduce the environmental
impact and the occupational exposure. There is the need for awareness campaigns on
lead related hazards amongst those populations living around “backyard” smelters and
battery reconditioners. Such activities will be covered in community outreach programs.
Slide 7
Activities
Training and capacity building workshops
These will be based on the training kit. The training and capacity building workshops will
to be organizedzed to target workers and decision makers from the informal
(unregulated) lead smelting industry. The training and capacity building workshops will
be participative and include examples of plants and operations that have changed their
working practices or introduced new technologies that are both environmentally friendly
and economically viable. Ways and means of planning such changes will also be
outlined and discussed.
Slide 8
Activities
Information dissemination
It is most important that information gathered during the study is made readily and freely
available to interested parties in India and elsewhere.
Specific information relating to hygiene and hazards of working with lead will be
available to companies and community groups in booklets and poster formats.
Information to plant managers and owners will be available in the form of a manual. The
manual will include the Basel Convention Guidelines for ESM of ULAB.
In an effort to ensure that the way forward towards ESM is clearly understood there will
also be site visits by members of the expert panel.
All the outputs from the study will also be available in a number of electronic formats on
the Internet.
Particularly in the case of the community outreach activities, the help of local radio and
television networks will be sought to broadcast the necessary information about
minimizing any exposure risks to families living close to ULAB facilities.
Slide 9
Outcomes
Short Term
For the targeted trial area, the project will result in a rapid understanding of the problems
of managing ULAB as a resource. Low or no cost upgrading options and new working
practices for the environmental performance of unlicensed battery reconditioners and
backyard lead smelters will be introduced. The options for implementing the
comprehensive national strategy for sustainable lead recovery, based on suitable
regulatory and economic measures, will be identified.
Long Term
Solutions to any outstanding environmental and health issues will be devised. New and
more appropriate technologies will be available, installed and commissioned. Further
improvements will be made to the comprehensive national strategy and the supporting
regulatory and incentive measures for its implementation through the trial process.
The study will therefore, in a most practical way, allow the Indian Government to
implement the holistic strategy nationwide.
ILMC May 2003