IIT researchers study tools to reduce lead pollution

Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur researchers are conducting a study to find out the appropriate policy instruments that can help India to reduce lead pollution. The research groups joined forces to look collectively at the problem of lead recycling in India as lead pollution can harm the mental and physical health of people and can contaminate the environment.

The workers who recycle lead in an informal setting break the lead-acid batteries in a fashion causing spillage of acid and lead dust in the soil and surroundings.

Also, the lead is melted in open furnaces due to which poisonous gases reach the air. This way of lead recycling is not only harmful to the environment but also the health workers engaged in the recycling process.

However, the low operational cost of this manoeuvre makes it still an attractive choice.

The presence of the informal sector and its undesirable consequences are more predominant in developing countries where the costs and lenient regulations and laws have helped the unregulated sector to grow at a faster pace.

The study suggested that the policy guidelines such as reducing the tax on the regulated recycling sector and providing subsidies to regulated recycling and remanufacturing sectors reduce lead pollution from leadacid battery recycling.

Another important finding was that a very high subsidy to the formal remanufacturing sector can lead to the shutting down of both regulated and unregulated recycling sectors.

The research team included Dr. R K Amit, Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, Dr. B Vipin, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Dr. Janakarajan Ramkumar, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, and

Mr. Brahmesh Vinayak Joshi from IIT Kanpur.

The team published the results of their work in the esteemed international research journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling.

Elaborating on the importance of research on lead pollution, Prof. R K Amit, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, said, “The insufficiency of primary lead sources to satisfy the demand makes the recycling of used batteries necessary. However, the unscientific way of recycling by the unregulated sector poses serious environmental and health threats due to the high amount of lead excretion. We studied to quantitatively assess the impact of different policy instruments on shifting the recycling business from unorganized to the organized sector in India.”

THE STUDY SUGGESTED THAT POLICY GUIDELINES SUCH AS SUBSIDY TO FORMAL REMANUFACTURING SECTOR CAN HELP CURB POLLUTION