Lok Sabha Question No. 1789 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-10
Subject: Non-organic Solid Waste Management Technologies
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Daggumalla Prasada Rao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1789 ANSWERED ON 10/12/2025

## NON-ORGANIC SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES

## 1789. SHRI DAGGUMALLA PRASADA RAO:

Will  the  Minister  of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  any  plans  to  commercialise  the advanced technologies developed for recycling and repurposing of nonorganic solid waste management and if so, the details of the timelines proposed and the list of States currently using these technologies;
- (b) whether the Government has done any pilot projects or technology demonstration projects for these technologies and if so, the list of the pilot projects or technology demonstrations done;
- (c) whether the Government is considering for any potential States to establish pilot projects/technology demonstrations/commercial plants of non-organic solid waste management technologies and if so, the list of States and reasons thereof; and
- (d) the  list  of  pilot-scale  facilities  developed  for  processing  and recovery of rare earth materials like Neodymium, Praseodymium?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) The Government of India, through the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  and  other agencies, is promoting the commercialisation of advanced technologies for recycling and repurposing of non-organic solid waste  through technology  transfers,  industry  partnerships,  pilot  plants  and  start-up support under Circular Economy and Waste-to-Wealth initiatives. Commercialisation is demand-driven and depends on technology maturity, regulatory approvals and industry adoption; therefore, no fixed national timelines have been prescribed. These technologies are being implemented  across  various  states  through  institutional  and  industrial collaborations.
- (b) to (c): The  Government  has  undertaken  several  pilot  projects  and technology  demonstration  initiatives  in  the  field  of  non-organic  solid

waste management. These pilot projects, technology demonstrations and commercial plants for non-organic solid waste management technologies are  operational  in  different  states  across  the  country.  The  Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in line with State Pollution Control Boards has been working for adoption of new waste processing technologies and has prescribed various performance standards for implementation.

DST has supported several pilot projects and technology demonstration initiatives in the area of non-organic solid waste management. Some of the major projects developed and demonstrated in different states are as follows:

-  Pilot-scale  demonstration  of  ICT-Poly  Urja  Technology  through  a vehicle-mounted mobile plant to convert plastic waste into fuel at ICT Mumbai, Maharashtra, enabling on-site treatment and validation across diverse plastic waste streams.
-  Establishment  of  a  zero-discharge  pilot  plant  by  IIT  Madras  for processing 100 kg of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to recover lead, tin and copper.
-  Process for selective recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from spent neodymium iron boron NdFeB magnets at IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal.
-  Solar  pre-heated  thermochemical  conversion  of  municipal  mixed plastic waste into high-quality 'plasto-fuels' for transportation and industrial  heating  applications  at  Gati  Shakti  Vishwavidyalaya, Vadodara, Gujarat.
-  Recycling  of  graphite  from  spent  lithium-ion  batteries  for  highenergy Li-ion capacitors at IISER Tirupati and CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
-  Recycling  of  spent  batteries  into  electrocatalysts  for  ammonia production and recovery of raw materials for new batteries at IIT Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nādu.
-  Development  of  recycled  polymer  composites  from  plastic  waste and  industrial by-products for sustainable applications at IIT Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

CSIR under its constituent laboratories, has supported the pilot projects or technology demonstration projects for non-organic solid waste management. Some of the major projects developed and demonstrated in different states are as follows:

-  Pilot plant has been commissioned for recycling of spent/used/discarded  lithium  iron  phosphate  (LFP)  batteries  for recovery of Lithium, iron and phosphorus at CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

-  A 1 Ton Per Day (TPD) pilot plant along with necessary pre-treatment facilities has been set up at CSIR-Indian Institute Of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun for chemical recycling of waste plastics into diesel.
-  For  steel  slag,  CSIR  -  Central  Road  Research  Institute  (CRRI)  is supporting pilot and commercial road construction initiatives with leading steel industries (TATA Steel, JSW, AMNS India, RINL) and public agencies (NHAI, BRO, ADANI Ports).
-  Pilot studies were  carried out using (i) Jarofix at UdaipurChittaurgarh  (SH-9),  Rajasthan,  (ii)  Red  mud  at  NH-130,  Koraput, Odisha, (iii) Copper slag at the Madurai-Kanyakumari Expressway, Tamil Nādu and (iv) Phosphogypsum at Paradeep, Odisha.

Under  Circular  Economy  action  plan  of  the  Government,  MeitY  has developed  cost  effective  technological  solutions  and  has  supported skilling and capacity building activities for e-waste management in the country. Considering electronic waste (e-waste) as a national challenge, MeitY  has  taken  various  initiatives.   The  details  of  same  are  as  given below:

-  A Centre of Excellence (CoE) on E-waste management has been set up by MeitY at CMET Hyderabad with support from Government of Telangana and industry partners to create a physical infrastructure and knowledge hub for the development of cost-effective technologies  for  E-waste  recycling,  empowerment  of  informal  Ewaste recyclers in the country, safe disposal of end of life electrical and electronic devices, recovery of precious metals from E-waste etc.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), a constituent Unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), has developed a technology for production of high purity  Copper  Oxide  nanoparticles  from  depopulated  Printed  Circuit Boards (PCB). This technology has been transferred to six private firms for commercialization.

As  per  the  Solid  Waste  Management  (SWM)  Rules,  2016  notified  by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Central Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  is  mandated  to  review  proposals  from State  Pollution  Control  Boards  for  adoption  of  new  waste  processing technologies and prescribe performance standards. Further, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats are required to facilitate establishment of waste processing plants either independently or through private partnerships.

- (d) The Government has supported the establishment of pilot-scale and R&D-scale  facilities  for  the  processing  and  recovery  of  rare  earth materials, including Neodymium (Nd) and Praseodymium (Pr). Further, the

Ministry of Mines is providing financial assistance to Start-ups and MSMEs under the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Start-ups and MSMEs (S&T-PRISM) initiative in the Mining, Mineral Processing, Metallurgy, and Recycling sectors.

## Some of the notable facilities include:

|   S.No. | Name of pilot scale facility                                                                                                                                    | Name of host institute                                                                                     |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | MeitY's Pilot scale preparation of Nd, Pr metals, NdFeB alloy and magnets                                                                                       | Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C- MET), Hyderabad, Telangana                             |
|       2 | DST-ANRF's Pilot plant for manufacture of near net shaped Nd-Fe-B magnets adopting NPLP technologies                                                            | International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials, (ARCI), Hyderabad, Telangana |
|       3 | DST-TDB's domestically-scaled facility for neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) rare-earth permanent magnets                                                            | M/s Midwest Advanced Materials Private Limited (MAM), Hyderabad, Telangana                                 |
|       4 | Ministry of Mine's Pilot- scale (TRL-7) facility for the extraction of Neodymium- Praseodymium (Nd-Pr) metal from Nd-Pr oxide for permanent magnet applications | Ashvini Rare Earths Pvt. Ltd.                                                                              |
|       5 | BARC's Rare Earth & Titanium Theme Park with pilot scale facilities for production of Neodymium and Praseodymium                                                | IREL (India), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh                                                                       |

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