India's Complete Guide to E-Waste Recycling & Precious Metal Recovery
Everything an industrial buyer, compliance officer, or sustainability lead needs to know about e-waste in India
— the numbers, the regulations, the recovery economics, and how to choose a recycler that won’t put your ESG reporting at risk.
Table of Contents
E-Waste — Definition & Overview
What Is E-Waste?
E-waste — short for electronic waste — covers every electrical or electronic device that has been discarded and is no longer in use. That includes the obvious things: old computers, mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines. It also includes less obvious items: printed circuit boards stripped from decommissioned servers, industrial control electronics, and medical equipment.
Under India’s E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022, e-waste formally covers 106 product categories in Schedule I — everything from household appliances to telecom infrastructure — regulated by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
E-waste is growing faster than any other waste stream on earth. What sets it apart from ordinary household rubbish is a quality that makes it both a serious environmental problem and a significant economic opportunity: it is simultaneously hazardous and genuinely valuable. A single smartphone contains lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants that can leach into soil and groundwater if improperly handled. The same phone also carries traces of gold, silver, palladium, and platinum — at concentrations that are, gram for gram, far higher than anything found in a mine.
What falls under e-waste
- Mobile phones and smartphones
- Computers, laptops, tablets, and servers
- Printed circuit boards (PCBs) — the highest-value stream for precious metal recovery
- Televisions, monitors, and display panels
- Refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines
- Industrial control systems and automation electronics
- Telecom infrastructure — switches, routers, base station equipment
- Medical electronic devices
Why e-waste is different from other waste
In most countries — and increasingly in India — e-waste sits at the intersection of two separate regulatory regimes: hazardous waste law and extended producer responsibility (EPR) frameworks. The hazardous side demands controlled disposal. The valuable side demands skilled recovery. The industry term e-scrap is commonly used in precious metals refining circles; the EU equivalent is WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment). Key streams typically processed by precious metals recyclers include printed circuit boards, server processors, and telecom connectors.
India E-Waste Statistics · Updated 2024–25
India's E-Waste Problem: What the Numbers Actually Show
India is the world’s third-largest generator of electronic waste, behind China and the United States. According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s latest parliamentary submissions, the country generated approximately 1.254 million metric tonnes of e-waste in FY 2023–24 — up from around 1.01 million tonnes in 2019–20, a rise of roughly 72% in five years. The UN Global E-Waste Monitor puts India’s figure higher, at approximately 4.1 billion kg (4.1 million tonnes) for 2022, because it counts a wider range of product categories than India’s own rules currently cover. Both figures are correct; they are simply measuring different things (more on this below).
On the processing side, things are moving strongly in the right direction. Formal e-waste processing reached approximately 62% in FY 2023–24, up sharply from around 22% in 2019–20 and barely 10% in 2016–17 — one of the fastest improvements in formal recycling rates anywhere in the developing world. That still leaves on the order of 480,000–500,000 tonnes handled outside the formal system each year, mostly by informal recyclers who lack the technology to recover precious metals safely or at full value.
The broader shift away from primary supply is happening whether India participates in it or not. Output growth from South African and Zimbabwean mines is constrained by geology and energy costs, and that situation is unlikely to improve through the rest of this decade. On the domestic side, India generates substantial volumes of e-waste each year, and the automotive aftermarket produces large quantities of spent catalytic converters. A meaningful share of the PGMs in that material currently leaves the country through informal export channels or is lost in uncontrolled smelting operations. Certified secondary refining changes that equation—converting what is functionally an urban mine into documented, traceable feedstock. ReReldan operates this process in Hyderabad, certified to ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, R2v3, and LEED Platinum standards.
Two figures, one country: The CPCB’s ~1.254 million MT (FY 2023–24) is India’s official regulatory reporting number, covering product categories defined under the E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022. The UN Global E-Waste Monitor’s ~4.1 million tonnes (2022) uses a broader product definition that includes solar PV panels and additional equipment categories aligned with IEC standards. India’s third-place global ranking comes from the UN figure. This document uses the CPCB number for compliance context and the UN figure for global comparisons — both are cited with their respective sources.
Key figures at a glance
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global ranking | 3rd (behind China and USA) | UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 |
| E-waste generated, FY 2023–24 (CPCB) | ~1.254 million MT | CPCB / Parliamentary data, PIB 2025 |
| E-waste generated, 2022 (UN GEM) | ~4.1 million tonnes | UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 |
| Formal processing rate, 2023–24 | ~62% | CPCB / Parliamentary submission, 2025 |
| Growth since 2019–20 | ~72% | CPCB / Down to Earth, Dec 2024 |
| Share from top 65 cities | More than 60% | UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 |
| Projected global total by 2030 | 82 million MT | UNITAR, GEM 2024 |
Year-by-year: how India’s numbers have moved
| Financial Year | E-Waste Generated (MT) | Formally Processed (MT) | Processing Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | 10,14,000 | 2,22,780 | ~22% |
| 2020–21 | 13,46,496 | — | — |
| 2021–22 | 16,01,155 | ~5,28,000 | ~33% |
| 2022–23 | 16,09,117 | — | — |
| 2023–24 | ~12,54,287 (revised) | ~7,76,000 | ~62% |
Sources: CPCB Annual Reports · PIB PRID:2147876 (Parliamentary submission, 2025) · Down to Earth, Dec 2024 · LinkedIn / Priyan Mari Muthu analysis
Note on data revision: Earlier media reports (Down to Earth, December 2024) cited a figure of 1.751 million MT for FY 2023–24 and a 43% formal processing rate, based on data then available to the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent parliamentary data published by CPCB revised the FY 2023–24 national total to approximately 1.254 million tonnes with a formal processing rate of approximately 61.94%. This document uses the more recent revised figures throughout. Where the Down to Earth figures appear in citations, this reflects the state of public reporting at the time of first drafting.
Waste Classification
The 4 Main Types of Waste — And Where E-Waste Sits
Most waste management frameworks divide waste into four broad types: municipal solid waste (household and urban rubbish), hazardous waste (toxic industrial and chemical material), industrial waste (factory by-products and scrap), and electronic waste. E-waste gets its own category because it doesn’t fit neatly into any of the others — it’s hazardous, but it’s also recoverable at high value, which ordinary hazardous waste rarely is.
| Waste Type | Recovery Value (₹/kg) | Precious Metals Present? | ReReldan Processes? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal solid waste | ₹2–8 | No | No |
| Hazardous industrial waste | ₹5–25 | Trace | No |
| Industrial metal scrap | ₹50–300 | In some cases | Selective |
| General consumer e-waste | ₹30–150 | Yes, at low levels | Selective |
| PCBs from IT equipment | ₹500–3,000 | Yes, at significant levels | Yes |
| Industrial precious metal scrap | ₹2,000–15,000+ | Yes — primary stream | Yes, primary focus |
Recovery value ranges are indicative and fluctuate with commodity markets.
Waste Classification
The 4 Classifications of Waste
Waste is classified by origin in four ways: industrial (from factories and manufacturing plants), commercial (from offices, schools, and retail), domestic or municipal (from households), and agricultural (from farming operations). A parallel classification by physical composition gives you solid, liquid, gaseous, and hazardous. E-waste spans both the industrial and commercial origin categories.
| Classification | Where It Comes From | E-Waste Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial | Factories, plants, refineries | PCB scrap, solder dross, connector waste |
| Commercial | Offices, schools, retail | IT equipment, servers, phones |
| Domestic / Municipal | Households | Consumer devices, appliances |
| Agricultural | Farms | Minimal — mainly irrigation control units |
By physical composition
| Type | Examples from E-Waste Processing | How It’s Handled |
|---|---|---|
| Solid | Circuit boards, casings, metals | Recycled or refined |
| Liquid | Chemical leachates, process fluids | Treated on-site before discharge |
| Gaseous | Furnace fumes, solder vapours | Filtered through emission control systems |
| Hazardous | Lead compounds, mercury, cadmium | Processed only at authorised TSDFs |
E-Waste Categories
The 6 Categories of E-Waste — And Which Ones Hold the Most Value
The UN Global E-Waste Monitor groups e-waste into six categories: large household appliances, small household appliances, IT and telecom equipment, consumer electronics, lighting, and electrical tools. India’s E-Waste Rules 2022 take a more granular approach, covering 106 specific product categories in Schedule I. For anyone in the business of precious metals recovery, the category breakdown matters enormously — the difference in gold content between a laptop motherboard and a domestic washing machine is the difference between a recovery operation and a recycling operation.
| Category | Gold (g/tonne) | Silver | Palladium | Priority for ReReldan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT equipment PCBs and motherboards | 250–400 | High | High | Critical priority |
| Mobile phone PCBs | 141–340 | ~270 | ~18 | Critical priority |
| CPUs and processors | Extremely high | Medium | Very high | Critical priority |
| Server hardware | High | High | High | High priority |
| Telecom infrastructure | High | High | High | High priority |
| LCD and LED screens | Low | Low | Negligible | Medium (indium recovery) |
| Large appliances — fridges, ACs | Very low | Very low | None | Low (copper and aluminium) |
Precious metal concentrations: ScienceDirect — Critical and Strategic Metals in Mobile Phones, 2023 · Waste Management Journal, 2015
Industrial Waste
The 7 Types of Waste in Industry
The answer depends on which context you’re working in. In lean manufacturing — the Toyota Production System framework that most factories follow — the seven wastes are operational inefficiencies, not physical materials: transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing, and defects. In physical waste management, the seven types are categories of actual material: hazardous chemical waste, non-hazardous industrial waste, e-waste, biomedical waste, construction and demolition waste, agricultural waste, and radioactive waste.
Lean manufacturing: the TIMWOOD framework
| Letter | Waste Type | Practical Example |
|---|---|---|
| T | Transport | Unnecessary movement of materials between workstations |
| I | Inventory | Excess raw materials or work-in-progress sitting idle |
| M | Motion | Workers moving unnecessarily to reach tools or materials |
| W | Waiting | Idle time when a process pauses for the next step |
| O | Overproduction | Manufacturing more than the current demand requires |
| O | Overprocessing | Adding steps that don’t add value for the customer |
| D | Defects | Rework, scrap, and warranty returns |
Some lean frameworks include an eighth waste — underused skills and talent — giving the acronym TIMWOODS.
Physical industrial waste: the seven types
| # | Type | Where It Comes From |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hazardous chemical | Solvents, acids, plating baths |
| 2 | Non-hazardous industrial | Metal scrap, rubber, ceramics |
| 3 | Electronic waste (e-waste) | PCBs, wiring, circuit assemblies |
| 4 | Biomedical | Hospital and lab electronics, contaminated devices |
| 5 | Construction and demolition | Concrete, steel wiring, embedded electronics |
| 6 | Agricultural | Sensor units, irrigation control systems |
| 7 | Radioactive | Nuclear instrument components |
The Urban Mining Case
What Precious Metals Are Actually Inside E-Waste?
The short answer: a great deal more than most people expect. One tonne of end-of-life mobile phone handsets and PCBs contains approximately 141 to 340 grams of gold, around 270 grams of silver, roughly 10 grams of platinum, and approximately 18 grams of palladium, based on a 2023 study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. For comparison, a tonne of gold ore in an average commercial mine yields somewhere between 1 and 5 grams of gold. Mobile phone PCBs are, by that measure, between 30 and 200 times richer in gold than anything a mining company digs out of the ground.
Older devices — feature phones from before 2007 and first-generation IT equipment — carried heavier gold loads than today’s slimmed-down components. The range of 141 to 340 grams per tonne reflects this spread across mixed device generations. High-grade server PCBs and industrial IT boards sit at the upper end.
| Metal | In mobile phone PCBs (g/tonne) | In mined ore (g/tonne) | How many times richer | Market price (indicative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold (Au) | 141–340 | 1–5 (global average) | 30–200× | ~₹90,000+ per gram |
| Silver (Ag) | 270–3,500 | 50–150 | 5–30× | ~₹90–110 per gram |
| Palladium (Pd) | 18–300 | 0.5–3 | 30–200× | ~₹3,000–4,000 per gram |
| Copper (Cu) | 53,000–150,000 | Mined as primary metal | Significant concentration | ~₹800–900 per kg |
| Platinum (Pt) | 10–40 | 2–8 | 5–10× | ~₹2,800–3,200 per gram |
Sources: ScienceDirect, 2023 · Waste Management Journal, 2015 · World Gold Council for ore grade benchmarks. Indicative prices only and subject to market fluctuations.
What different types of scrap are worth
| Material | Typical price range (₹/kg) | Precious metal content | Best processing route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed consumer e-scrap | ₹20–80 | Minimal | Standard authorised recycler |
| Cable and copper scrap | ₹80–250 | Copper only | Standard authorised recycler |
| Low-grade consumer PCBs | ₹200–800 | Low precious metal loading | Standard authorised recycler |
| High-grade server and telecom PCBs | ₹800–3,000 | High gold, palladium, silver | ReReldan (ISO 17025 assay) |
| Industrial precious metal scrap | ₹2,000–15,000+ | Primary gold, silver, platinum, palladium | ReReldan (full chain of custody) |
All price ranges are indicative and vary with purity, volume, and live commodity markets.
Urban Mining Economics
The Business Case for Precious Metal Recovery in India
Urban mining — recovering metals from discarded electronics rather than extracting them from virgin ore — is not a niche environmental initiative. It is a large and growing commercial proposition. The UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 valued the metals embedded in the 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated worldwide in 2022 at USD 91 billion. Of that, only USD 28 billion was actually recovered through formal processing. The remaining USD 63 billion was lost to landfill, informal recycling, or substandard treatment. India’s share of that unrecovered value is substantial.
What a mid-size company loses by using the wrong recycler
Consider a manufacturer disposing of 500 kilograms of high-grade server PCBs each year. At the typical precious metal loading for server-grade boards, the difference between an informal buyer and a certified refiner like ReReldan is significant:
| Route | Method | Estimated annual yield | What else you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informal local buyer | Acid bath, copper extraction at 50–70% efficiency | ₹75,000–1,00,000 (copper value only) | Nothing — no documentation, no EPR credits |
| ReReldan (ISO 17025 certified) | Hydrometallurgical processing at up to 95–99% efficiency, full assay | ₹3,00,000–8,00,000 (gold + silver + palladium + copper) | EPR compliance credits, ESG documentation, chain-of-custody certificate |
Illustrative comparison only; actual recoveries depend on feed composition and processing route. These figures are illustrative based on indicative metal prices and typical high-grade PCB compositions. Actual yields depend on specific board types and live commodity prices.
The energy case
There is also an energy argument. Recovering gold from e-waste through hydrometallurgical processing uses up to 65% less energy than extracting it from primary ore and smelting it. For palladium, the energy saving is approximately 14%. Based on published academic studies; actual savings vary by feedstock and process configuration. This is why certified e-waste refining can undercut the cost of primary mining while simultaneously carrying a significantly lower carbon footprint — a combination that matters increasingly to clients with net-zero commitments. Source: Wang and Gaustad, 2012, cited in the Waste Management Journal.
ReReldan Technology
How E-Waste Gets Turned into Refined Precious Metal
The process at ReReldan’s Hyderabad facility runs through six stages, from the moment a client’s scrap is collected to the point where refined metal and a certified assay report are handed back. The facility combines all four major e-waste processing technologies — thermal, mechanical reduction, pyrometallurgical, and hydrometallurgical — alongside an ISO 17025-accredited in-house laboratory that verifies every output. ReReldan is one of the few facilities in India offering an integrated precious metals recovery platform.
Pickup and custody begin. Material is collected door-to-door or facility-to-facility. Every intake gets a manifest, weight verification, and a chain-of-custody number. IT equipment gets a data destruction certificate at the point of collection.
Material is catalogued and routed. Each incoming shipment is weighed, photographed, and sorted by type — high-grade PCBs, consumer electronics, and industrial scrap each follow a separate processing pathway.
Physical breakdown into processable feed. Material is mechanically broken down and separated by type. An integrated dust collection system is designed to capture recoverable particles.
Organic content is removed. Thermal processing equipment burns off organic material, liberating metals and concentrating them before the chemical stage begins.
Precious metals are separated and purified. A chemical solution dissolves precious metals with high selectivity in a closed-loop system. The process is designed to minimise landfill disposal and maximise resource recovery.
Refined metal and paperwork are delivered. Dissolved metals are recovered as high-purity solids through electrowinning. The ISO 17025 laboratory (certificate TC-16863, accredited by NABL) assays every output. The client receives a metal yield certificate alongside a full chain-of-custody audit trail.
Regulation & Compliance
India's E-Waste Rules 2022: What Changed and What It Means for Your Business
The E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022 came into force on 1 April 2023, replacing the 2016 framework. The most visible change was the expansion from 21 to 106 product categories in Schedule I, but the more significant shift was in enforcement architecture — the new rules moved from a broadly worded producer responsibility mandate to a digitally tracked, year-by-year tonnage obligation with real penalties for falling short.
| Area | Under the 2016 Rules | Under the 2022 Rules (now in force) |
|---|---|---|
| Product coverage | 21 categories under Schedule I | 106 categories under Schedule I |
| Producer targets | General obligations, loosely defined | Year-by-year tonnage targets — 60% by 2023–24, 70% by 2024–25, 80% by 2025–26 (weight-based) |
| Tracking mechanism | Manual reporting to CPCB | Digital EPR portal: eprewaste.cpcb.gov.in |
| Penalty framework | Light, rarely enforced | Environmental compensation levy, actively applied |
| Refurbishers | Not separately recognised | Explicitly defined as a regulated category with their own obligations |
Who is covered
Producers — manufacturers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment. Must register on the CPCB EPR portal, set annual collection targets, and file Form 2 returns by 30 June each year.
Bulk consumers — large organisations (companies, institutions, government bodies) that use EEE at scale. Must ensure any end-of-life equipment goes only to CPCB-authorised recyclers.
Refurbishers — a new category under the 2022 rules. Must be registered and maintain traceability of components in refurbished equipment.
Authorised recyclers — need a CPCB Authorisation Certificate and State PCB Consent to Operate. Must issue EPR certificates to producer clients. ReReldan holds all of the above.
EPR compliance checklist for producers
- Register on the CPCB EPR portal: eprewaste.cpcb.gov.in
- Set and meet annual e-waste collection targets by product category
- Channel all e-waste only to CPCB-authorised dismantlers and recyclers
- File Form 2 annual returns by 30 June each financial year
- Collect EPR credit certificates from your authorised recycler — ReReldan issues these
- Confirm your recycler holds ISO 14001 certification
- For precious metal-bearing equipment: check that your recycler holds ISO 17025 laboratory accreditation, so assay results are independently verified, not self-reported
Waste Management Hierarchy
The 7 Rs of Waste Management
The 7 Rs form a preference hierarchy — a ranked order of what you should try before moving to the next option. Rethink whether the product needs to exist in its current form. Refuse products that can’t be managed sustainably. Reduce consumption. Reuse what still works. Repair what has broken. Recycle what can’t be repaired. And as a last resort — but often the highest-value step for industrial electronics — Recover the materials embedded in things that can no longer serve any of the earlier purposes.
For precious metal-bearing PCBs and industrial scrap, Recover is where the real value lies. This is where ReReldan operates.
Rethink
Designing devices for longer life, easier disassembly, and component reuse from the start
Refuse
Procurement policies that rule out products with non-recyclable or hazardous designs
Reduce
Extending a device's useful life from 3 to 5 years roughly halves the e-waste it generates over a decade
Reuse
IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services that refurbish and redeploy corporate equipment rather than scrapping it
Repair
India's network of local repair shops already keeps tens of millions of devices out of the waste stream every year
Recycle
Conventional recycling for plastics, aluminium, glass, and copper from end-of-life electronics
Recover
ReReldan's hydrometallurgical recovery of gold, silver, palladium, and platinum from PCBs and industrial precious metal scrap
Choosing a Recycler
How to Choose an E-Waste Recycler: What to Actually Check
The most common mistake companies make when selecting an e-waste recycler is treating CPCB authorisation as the end of the evaluation rather than the beginning. Authorisation is the legal minimum — it tells you the facility is permitted to operate. It says nothing about processing efficiency, metal recovery accuracy, or the quality of the chain-of-custody documentation you’ll receive.
For industrial buyers whose scrap carries meaningful precious metal value — and for compliance officers who need documentation that will hold up to ESG scrutiny — the checklist below is the right place to start.
| What to check | Basic authorised recycler | ISO-certified recycler | ReReldan |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPCB Authorisation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ISO 14001 Environmental Management | Often not held | Yes | Yes — certified by DNV |
| ISO 45001 Health & Safety | Often not held | Sometimes | Yes — certified by DNV |
| ISO 17025 Laboratory Accreditation | No | Rarely held | Yes — Certificate TC-16863 (NABL) |
| LEED Certified Facility | No | No | Platinum — Asia’s first for precious metals processing |
| Assay report per shipment | No | Usually not provided | Yes — every shipment |
| Chain-of-custody documentation | Basic manifest only | Partial | Full digital audit trail |
| EPR credit issuance | Basic | Yes | Yes, with full ESG documentation |
| Third-party ESG validation | No | No | D&B ESG Registered Badge, 2024 |
ReReldan credentials sourced from rereldan.com. CPCB and ISO status of other operators should be verified directly on the CPCB portal.
India's E-Waste Geography
Where India's E-Waste Comes From — and Where ReReldan Operates
India’s e-waste is heavily concentrated. The top 65 cities produce over 60% of the country’s total, and just 10 states account for 70% of national generation. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal sit consistently at the top. This geographic concentration is why facility location and collection logistics matter as much as processing technology when evaluating a recycling partner.
| City / State | Primary e-waste driver | ReReldan presence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyderabad, Telangana | IT, pharma, manufacturing, life sciences | Dundigal, Medchal — LEED Platinum precious metals processing facility | Operational |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka | India’s IT capital — semiconductors, electronics | Collection and processing presenceVerify with ReReldan | OperationalVerify with ReReldan |
| Delhi NCR | Commercial, government, PSUs, IT | Collection and processing presenceVerify with ReReldan | OperationalVerify with ReReldan |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra | Finance, media, consumer electronics | Planned expansion | Expanding |
| Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Automotive electronics, manufacturing, IT | Planned expansion | Expanding |
| Visakhapatnam, AP | Port, pharma, steel | Collection and processing facility | Operational |
| Vijayawada, AP | Commercial, consumer | E-waste collection centre — Swachha Andhra MoU, May 2025 | Operational |
| Ludhiana, Punjab | Manufacturing, textiles, engineering | Collection and processing | Operational |
Sources: rereldan.com · rereldan.com/investors (Swachha Andhra MoU) · UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 for city concentration data
About ReReldan
ReReldan — Asia's First LEED Platinum Precious Metals Facility
ReReldan — formally Re Sustainability Reldan Refining Private Limited — is a joint venture between two organisations that bring complementary depth to the business: Re Sustainability Limited, one of India’s largest integrated waste management groups with operations across more than 95 locations worldwide, and Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan, a US-headquartered precious metals refiner with more than four decades of experience processing industrial and electronic scrap.
The Hyderabad facility at Dundigal Village, Medchal District occupies approximately 14 acres and around 100,000 sq ft of processing space. In August 2023, it became Asia’s first precious metals processing facility to achieve LEED Platinum certification — not a designation typically associated with industrial chemical processing, which makes it all the more significant.
| Metric | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Facility footprint | ~14 acres, ~100,000 sq ft processing space | rereldan.com/about |
| LEED Platinum certification | August 2023 — first in Asia for precious metals processing | rereldan.com/rereldan-is-leed-platinum-certified |
| ISO certifications | 9001 · 14001 · 45001 · 50001 (certified by DNV) · 17025 (TC-16863, accredited by NABL) | rereldan.com |
| ISO 17025 lab certificate number | TC-16863 (NABL) | rereldan.com |
| Re Sustainability global locations | 95+ | rereldan.com/about |
| Reldan heritage — waste diverted | 215 million lbs | rereldan.com/about |
| Swachha Andhra MoU signed | 6 May 2025 | rereldan.com/investors |
| Construction Times Award | Best Waste Management Project of the Year 2024 | rereldan.com |
How the facility was built: a timeline
| Date | Milestone | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Consent for Establishment | Telangana State regulatory approval for the Dundigal, Medchal site |
| 2021 | Construction begins | Ground-breaking at the ~14-acre Dundigal site |
| March 2023 | Construction complete, consent to operate | Facility completed. Consent for Operation granted by Telangana State |
| August 2023 | LEED Platinum | USGBC LEED Platinum achieved — Asia’s first for a precious metals processing facility |
| September 2023 | Joint venture announced | Reldan and Re Sustainability formally announce Re Sustainability Reldan Refining |
| 2024 | ISO portfolio and awards | ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 50001 (DNV) · ISO 17025 laboratory (TC-16863, NABL) · D&B ESG Badge · Construction Times Award 2024 |
| 6 May 2025 | Swachha Andhra MoU | MoU signed with Swachha Andhra Corporation (AP Government) for Vijayawada e-waste collection centre |
Sources: rereldan.com/about · rereldan.com/rereldan-is-leed-platinum-certified · rereldan.com/investors · rereldan.com/news
Certifications & Credentials
Certifications, Awards, and What They Each Mean
| Certification or Award | What it covers | Issued by | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEED Platinum | Asia’s first precious metals processing facility to hold this designation. Achieved August 2023. Covers energy, water, emissions, indoor air quality, and materials sustainability. | U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) | rereldan.com/rereldan-is-leed-platinum-certified |
| ISO 9001:2015 | Quality management system — process consistency and service reliability | DNV | rereldan.com |
| ISO 14001:2015 | Environmental management system — independently verified environmental controls and performance | DNV | rereldan.com |
| ISO 45001:2018 | Occupational health and safety management — worker safety framework | DNV | rereldan.com |
| ISO/IEC 17025:2017 | Laboratory testing and calibration accreditation. Certificate No. TC-16863. Every metal assay is independently accredited. | NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) | rereldan.com |
| ISO 50001:2018 | Energy management system — energy efficiency and carbon reduction | DNV | rereldan.com |
| D&B ESG Registered Badge | Third-party validated sustainability metrics from Dun & Bradstreet. Supports client ESG reporting requirements. | Dun & Bradstreet | rereldan.com/investors |
| Swachha Andhra MoU | AP Government partnership for a dedicated e-waste collection centre in Vijayawada. Signed 6 May 2025. | Swachha Andhra Corporation | rereldan.com/investors |
| Construction Times Award 2024 | Best Waste Management Project of the Year — industry recognition for the Hyderabad facility |
Services
What ReReldan Does — and Who We Work With
The industries and organisations we serve
- Electronics manufacturers and OEMs with production PCB offcuts, connector scrap, and solder dross
- IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) companies and corporate IT teams retiring server fleets and data centre equipment
- Manufacturing plants whose processes generate industrial precious metal scrap
- Jewellery manufacturers with precious metal sweeps, polishing waste, and process scrap
| Location | Services available | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Hyderabad, Telangana | Full processing, refining, and ISO 17025 assay | Operational |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka | Collection and processing presenceVerify with ReReldan | OperationalVerify with ReReldan |
| Delhi NCR | Collection and processing presenceVerify with ReReldan | OperationalVerify with ReReldan |
| Visakhapatnam, AP | Collection and processing | Operational |
| Vijayawada, AP | Drop-in collection centre | Operational (Swachha Andhra MoU, May 2025) |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra | Full services | Expanding |
| Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Full services | Expanding |
| Service | What’s included | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| Precious Metals Recovery | Full chain-of-custody processing for PCBs, connector scrap, and plating sludge. ISO 17025 assay on every shipment. Refined gold, silver, palladium, platinum, and copper outputs, each accompanied by a metal yield certificate. | rereldan.com/solutions |
| E-Waste Collection and Recycling | Door-to-door or facility pickup. Data destruction certificate on request. CPCB-compliant processing throughout. EPR credit certificates issued to producer clients. | rereldan.com/e-waste-management |
| EPR Compliance Support | EPR credit generation, CPCB portal filing assistance, annual return documentation, and EPR certificate issuance for producers meeting their obligations under the E-Waste Rules 2022. | rereldan.com |
| Industrial Waste Assessment | On-site visit and waste stream audit for manufacturing clients. We identify precious metal-bearing streams that are currently being undervalued or treated as hazardous waste when they could be generating returns. | rereldan.com |
Common Misunderstandings
Five Things People Get Wrong About E-Waste
Questions & Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s latest parliamentary submissions, India generated approximately 1.254 million metric tonnes of e-waste in FY 2023–24, up from around 1.01 million MT in 2019–20 — a rise of roughly 72% in five years. The UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 puts India’s total at approximately 4.1 million tonnes for 2022, using a wider product definition. Either way, India ranks third globally, behind China and the United States. Sources: CPCB Parliamentary submission (PIB PRID:2147876, 2025) · UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), operating under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), is the primary regulator. The CPCB authorises recyclers, runs the digital EPR portal at eprewaste.cpcb.gov.in, and enforces the E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022. Individual states issue facility-level consents to operate through their State Pollution Control Boards. Sources: cpcb.nic.in · moef.gov.in.
The four main types are municipal solid waste (household and urban rubbish), hazardous waste (toxic industrial and chemical material), industrial waste (factory by-products and manufacturing scrap), and electronic waste. E-waste gets its own category because it combines the properties of the others — it’s hazardous like industrial chemicals, but it also contains recoverable materials at high concentrations that no other waste category matches.
In order of preference: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, and Recover. The hierarchy guides decisions from product design through to disposal. For electronics, Recover — the last resort — is often the highest-value step, since it extracts the gold, silver, palladium, and platinum that conventional recycling cannot.
For integrated waste management at national scale, Re Sustainability Limited is one of the largest, with operations across 95+ locations worldwide. For e-waste precious metals recovery specifically, ReReldan (Re Sustainability Reldan Refining Pvt Ltd) is the most technically advanced operator in the country, holding Asia’s first LEED Platinum certification for a precious metals processing facility. Sources: resustainability.com · rereldan.com/about.
A 2023 study in the Journal of Cleaner Production measured approximately 141 grams of gold, around 270 grams of silver, roughly 10 grams of platinum, and approximately 18 grams of palladium per tonne of end-of-life mobile phone handsets and PCBs. Older studies put the gold figure as high as 340 grams per tonne for pre-2007 feature phones. For comparison, a tonne of commercially mined gold ore carries between 1 and 5 grams on average — making mobile phone PCBs between 30 and 200 times richer in gold. Source: Forti et al., ScienceDirect, 2023.
The E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022 came into force on 1 April 2023, replacing the 2016 framework. Key changes: coverage expanded from 21 to 106 product categories in Schedule I; Extended Producer Responsibility became a digitally tracked, weight-based, year-by-year tonnage obligation (60% collection target for 2023–24, 70% for 2024–25, 80% for 2025–26); a new digital portal was launched at eprewaste.cpcb.gov.in; and penalties for non-compliance were significantly strengthened. Source: MoEF&CC official notification.
In lean manufacturing, the seven wastes are operational inefficiencies — Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, and Defects (TIMWOOD). In physical waste management, the seven types are: hazardous chemical waste, non-hazardous industrial waste, electronic waste, biomedical waste, construction and demolition waste, agricultural waste, and radioactive waste.
LEED Platinum is the highest rating in the U.S. Green Building Council’s certification system. For most people, LEED brings to mind office blocks and corporate campuses — not chemical processing plants. Achieving LEED Platinum for a precious metals refinery requires demonstrating exceptional performance across energy efficiency, water use, CO₂ emissions, indoor air quality, and materials sustainability. ReReldan’s Hyderabad facility earned this certification in August 2023 — the first precious metals processing facility in Asia to do so. Source: rereldan.com/rereldan-is-leed-platinum-certified.
The UN Global E-Waste Monitor groups e-waste into six categories: large household appliances (fridges, ACs, washing machines), small household appliances (kettles, toasters), IT and telecom equipment (computers, phones, servers, routers), consumer electronics (TVs, cameras, audio), lighting (fluorescent, LED, CFL), and electrical and electronic tools (power tools, measuring instruments). India’s E-Waste Rules 2022 use a more granular list of 106 product categories in Schedule I for regulatory purposes. Source: UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024.
References
Sources and Further Reading
Regulatory and government sources
- CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board): cpcb.nic.in
- MoEF&CC E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022: moef.gov.in
- CPCB EPR Portal: eprewaste.cpcb.gov.in
- PIB Press Release PRID:1941054 — India e-waste generation data (earlier CPCB data)
- PIB Press Release PRID:2147876 — Parliamentary submission, revised FY 2023–24 data (~1.254 million MT, ~62% processing rate)
International authority sources
- UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 (UNITAR/ITU): ewastemonitor.info/the-global-e-waste-monitor-2024
- UNITAR Press Release, 20 March 2024 — GEM 2024 key figures including USD 91 billion embedded value and USD 28 billion recovered
- ITU Press Release, 20 March 2024 — supporting data on global e-waste volumes and recovery rates
Peer-reviewed scientific sources
- Forti et al. (2023): Critical and Strategic Metals in Mobile Phones. Journal of Cleaner Production, ScienceDirect. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137891
- Wang and Gaustad (2012): Precious metal concentration in printed circuit boards. Waste Management Journal, ScienceDirect
Market research and news sources
- Astute Analytica (2024): India E-Waste Management Market — USD 1.6–1.7 billion (2023) to ~USD 5.2 billion (2032), CAGR ~13–14%. Confirmed by India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra)
- Business Standard, December 2024: India e-waste generation rises 72.5% over five years — Rajya Sabha data
- Down to Earth, December 2024: India formal e-waste processing rate data, FY 2023–24
ReReldan company sources — all verified against live pages
- rereldan.com — official company website
- rereldan.com/about — facility details, company timeline, parent company profiles
- rereldan.com/solutions — processing technology and full service descriptions
- rereldan.com/rereldan-is-leed-platinum-certified — LEED Platinum certification details
- rereldan.com/investors — MoUs, certifications, awards, milestones
- rereldan.com/news/stronger-together-re-sustainability-reldan-refining — joint venture announcement, September 2023
- sibanyestillwater.com/business/americas/recycling/reldan — Sibanye-Stillwater Reldan technical profile
- resustainability.com — Re Sustainability Limited corporate information