MTC Exigo JV all set to disrupt E-Waste recycling industry 

By OEM Update Editorial October 12, 2021 5:33 pm IST

MTC Exigo Recycling Pvt Ltd (MERPL) plans to invest nearly USD 25 million in a phased manner. Headquartered in Mumbai, its first plants will be operational in Bengaluru and Chennai by March 2022. 

India’s largest metal scrap processors the MTC Group and leading E-waste recycler Exigo Recycling Private Limited have formed a joint venture company MTC-Exigo Recycling Pvt. Ltd. (MERPL). 

The joint venture company will be headquartered in Mumbai and its plants will be operational in Bengaluru and Chennai by March 2022. MERPL targets to process over 2 Lakh tons of E waste annually, ramping up the recycling capacity in a phased manner across 10 cities in India, including NCR, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Lucknow. In the coming days, MERPL’s line of activity will also include pre-processing and recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries and EV Batteries of different chemistries, Solar PV Module recycling, plastic recycling, and Waste to Energy (W2E). 

The MTC Group and Exigo Recycling Private Limited plan to invest nearly USD 25 million in a phased manner in developing MERPL that will leverage MTC’s position as a global market leader in ferrous and non-ferrous scrap business and Exigo’s expertise in setting up low-cost modular recycling & refining plants, innovative and indigenous cutting-edge technologies in different waste streams and maximising resource recovery in a cost-effective manner. MERPL aims to augment the Government’s efforts in promoting and boosting a circular economy in the country. 

The worldwide e-waste generation in 2019 was 53.6 million metric tonnes. India is the third largest contributor at 3.2 million metric tonnes. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, introduced in 2016 and amendments in 2018 have included only 21 EEE products and many more will be added. The government has implemented a graded target collection plan for producers and the targets will increase in the years to come. The exponential increase in manufacturing, consumption and rapid obsolescence,demand for multiple product recycling capacities, environment friendly transparent processes, advanced technologies, ethical and sustainable partners are the opportunities MERPL will address pan India. 

Sanjay Mehta, Director, MTC Group said, “MTC Group strongly believes in retaining maximum value of resources by ever-greening their use to the longest possible and recovering maximum value through the 6R concept of reusing, repairing, recovering, remanufacturing, regenerating, and recycling and minimising wastage at end of each life cycle, which incidentally also happens to be the underlying principle of circular economy. The exponential increase in the manufacturing and obsolescence of Electronic and Electrical Equipment which are laden with metals and rare earth elements has necessitated the adoption of a circular economy approach to save these valuable resources for future generations and to reduce the effective carbon footprint. This Joint Venture is a small step by the MTC Group towards ensuring resource security maximisation and environmental sustainability.”

Raman Sharma, Managing Director, Exigo Recycling said, “Exigo is a decade old key player in the Indian E Waste Management & Recycling industry. With substantial investments in in-house R&D, we have developed cost effective recycling and refining processes for multiple WEEE and other product categories to extract Base/Critical/Precious and Rare earth metals. We have also established a transparent, auditable upstream & downstream ecosystem and follow high global standards and benchmarks in the recycling domain. I am positive that this JV will contribute to the vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat‘’ by creating jobs, awareness and inclusive growth of the informal sector which paves the way for multiple stakeholders to unite towards implementation of the circularity principle. We intend developing an ecosystem to offer opportunities to the budding entrepreneurs & startups through technology, finance and expertise in waste management.

MERPL will create direct and indirect employment opportunities of over 1000 people per plant and intends to be a 360-degree player in E Waste ecosystem right from skill development, awareness creation, encourage techno-preneurs, collaborate with young start-ups with tech incubation and be a trusted player in Government’s efforts to boost circular economy.