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India, Africa and
far beyond
R e c y c l i n g m a j o r G r a v i t a
India’s lead and aluminium recycler Gravita makes no secret of its ambition to be among the world’s top five recy-
cling companies by 2028. One after another, a facility is launched, expanded or upgraded in India or Africa, while
business is carried out around the globe. Recycling International headed to Gravita’s mother plant, where it all
began, to learn more.
From India’s northern city of Jaipur it
is one-and-a-half hours by car, first
through crazy city traffic, then on a
two-lane toll motorway before you
find yourself in the middle of the
bone-dry Rajasthan countryside. It
was here in the early 90s that Indian
entrepreneur Rajat Agrawal planted
the roots for what is now one of the
fastest-growing lead and aluminium
recycling firms in the world.
Agrawal had bought a piece of land,
initially to start an agricultural busi-
ness. However, inspired by India’s
emerging waste battery problem, he
changed tack and stepped into car
battery recycling by building his first,
small facility.
More than 30 years on, Gravita’s
mother site is still there, grown big-
ger and advanced over the years.
‘The Phagi plant stands as a pioneer
in lead recycling – this is where it all
started for Gravita and we’re proud of
that,’ says operations manager Sunil
Gudage while demonstrating the visi-
tor safety procedure before showing
me around the sorting lines and fur-
naces halls. ‘Mind you, lead recycling
means you’re dealing with toxic and
hazardous materials and gases which
we are very careful with.’
AROUND-THE-CLOCK
OPERATION
The Phagi plant – one of Gravita’s 13
lead battery recycling facilities world-
wide – provides modern, sustainable
recycling services for used lead bat-
teries, aluminium scrap and plastics,
supporting Rajasthan and the sur-
rounding region. With a workforce of
450 operating 24/7, the facility has
the capacity to process 53 000 tonnes
of scrap per year.
Over the years, Phagi has witnessed
major expansion and transformation,
becoming a hub of innovation with
integrated recycling facilities and val-
ue-added product capabilities. It now
serves markets in southeast Asia, the
Middle East and Europe, offering lead
alloys, refined lead, aluminium alloys,
plastic flakes and a variety of value-
added products. The last includes
lead sheets and lead powder for radi-
ation applications. The facility cur-
A U T H O R Martijn Reintjes P H O T O S Gravita, Martijn Reintjes
Inside the Phagi plant.
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