Recycling is one of the oldest environmentally sustainable practices. One of the earliest recorded instances of which traces back to the residents of the Byzantine Empire in 400 BC, who began recycling glass. Since then, recycling has continued to become a worldwide practice and plays an important role in how we deal with the unprecedented amount of waste caused by us.
We now know that people in 9th century Japan began recycling paper, which they thought of as highly valuable. Recycling has numerous environmental benefits, including lowering one’s carbon footprint, easing the strain on natural resources, and promoting sustainable lifestyle. But today, as we make a concerted shift towards an EV-first society, recycling is of the utmost significance due to the finite nature of the raw materials that constitute building our electric vehicles and creating a complementary battery ecosystem in the world. The metals re-derived from recycling our end-of-life EV products now hold more value for our sustainable future, like how paper did for the ancient civilizations.
Recycling can be broadly defined as the practice of recovering material from waste and reusing that material to create new items. Though people are more aware of the varied benefits of recycling in today’s time, it is still in its nascent stage in the EV industry. Recycling EV products and parts can reduce our carbon footprint by 30 percent by reducing our reliance on virgin metals and mining activities. Recycling is also one of the many ways we can contribute to the circular economy. The circular economy is a change to the model of consumption and production in which products are reused, recycled, and refurbished to reduce waste and extend the lifespan of commodities.
This not only reduces our carbon footprint but puts less pressure on the environment by dumping less waste in landfills. When we follow the ‘right’ kind of disposal we not only reduce soil and water pollution but also mitigate the rapid effects of climate change.
Being India’s largest shared EV and BaaS company, Yulu not only enables a sustainable mode of urban mobility but also ensures that our materials and parts are recycled by authorized recyclers. At present, Yulu recycles motors, throttles, Daytime Running Lights (DRL), controllers, chargers, wire harnesses, PCB boards, and batteries to extend their normal life cycle so that they can be reused far beyond their end.
Now, you may look at this and think that recycling is limited to e-waste and batteries. But you too could contribute to making our future sustainable in more ways than you think. Let us take a look at some everyday items that you could recycle and some habits you can inculcate in your lifestyles to make this possible:
Batteries:
Market estimates show that India generates approximately 50,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery waste each year. Lithium-ion batteries are used in portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, remotes, laptops, etc. Yulu’s shared EVs run on rechargeable Li-ion batteries that are easily swappable. Batteries will continue to power our future, and a switch to recycling battery parts or using sustainable batteries is integral going forward. The materials used in our batteries are both recyclable and recoverable. But this process is very under-penetrated in the Indian context due to fewer players in the market, and a lack of pointed government legislation and financial support in this direction. One of the best ways to recycle batteries is to find a local e-waste collector or a company willing to take in e-waste like the Clean e-India initiative which takes in your e-waste.
Hence, you too can give your electronic waste, like mobiles, dead batteries,, computers, to such recyclers rather than disposing of them as waste in landfills, where they are not easily biodegradable.
Food packaging:
Segregating waste is an important practice in recycling. It involves separating your waste into dry and wet categories to ease the process. Wet waste refers to mainly organic waste that could be able to decompose naturally over time while dry waste is mainly inorganic material that is not contaminated or soiled.
Food packaging is often thrown along with its contents and is mistakenly placed in the wet waste category. This should be avoided and you can also recycle these items by repurposing the multiple items that carry our food. This includes the reuse of plastic containers, egg and milk cartons, and so on which all can be used for different purposes in a household. By recycling these materials, you can significantly reduce your carbon footprint and help the recycling process run smoothly. So the next time you order food, look into what bin the waste should go into and if you can utilize any of the containers for other uses.
Aerosol cans:
Another product commonly found in the trash bin is aerosol cans. The cans are made up of many recyclable materials, such as steel and aluminum. So, rather than throwing them away, remove the plastic caps and add the cans to your recycling. However, to be recycled, you must ensure the cans are completely empty, otherwise, they will continue to be hazardous and potentially dangerous during the recycling process. If you are unsure about the recycling process the best guide is a local ‘raddiwalas’ who play a central role in the recycling process. By selling to a raddiwala, the recycling process is kickstarted. Local collectors then sell to recycling units which then sell to manufacturers of items that use recyclable materials.
Clothes:
Fast fashion, and more specifically, the lack of recycling of textiles and garments continues to have a detrimental effect on the environment. Landfills contain tonnes of textile clothing waste with the chemicals used in clothes contaminating the soil. Chemicals and large amounts of CO2 are also released into the atmosphere when such products are burned by incinerators. One of the best ways to avoid this is to donate clothes that you were going to throw away. India has countless companies that you can donate your clothes to including Share at Door Step (SADS), Happiee Souls, and the Clothes Box Foundation to name a few.
As a three-year-old start-up, we are already taking the lead in recycling parts that constitute our electric vehicles. As individuals, you can contribute to making the products we use every day sustainable far beyond their normal life cycles.
Initiative is everything when it comes to recycling, and finding local vendors or companies who recycle certain items is a great way to help the environment. Before throwing out any item you have purchased, a simple check of whether it is recyclable or not is pivotal to the recycling process. Identifying collection centers through searches or asking residents of your area is the best way to dispose of waste sustainably and should be done with every item.
Recycling can be considered the beginning of adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Reusing and recycling products are two of the hallmarks of sustainable living, which include reducing energy consumption through increased usage of shared products and habituating ourselves to reusable alternatives. So when you use sustainable modes of EV mobility like Yulu for everyday commute, you can contribute even further to helping the environment because of our recycling process which makes our products a part of the circular economy.
The circular economy means that Yulu not only reduces its carbon footprint (10K metric tonnes to date and counting!) through your EV rides, but by partnering with external recyclers, who can extract valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, etc, and resell them to cell manufacturers, we solve the issues surrounding EV manufacturing along with you.