Indian firms are mining e-waste for battery minerals

Mohammad Abrar wakes up coughing most mornings. It's not yet dawn but New Delhi is already blanketed in thick smog when he sets off for work. By 4 am, Abrar, aged 50, reaches Seelampur, a small neighbourhood in the capital's north-east suburbs, which is home to India's largest electrical-waste market. The market's narrow lanes are lined with small scrapstores overflowing with piles of broken computers, telephones, TVs, microwaves, washing machines, ACs and end-of-life batteries. Abrar is one of more than 50,000 informal workers, including women and children, who make a living sifting through thrown-out goods to recover valuable materials that…