Kathmandu – Akash Golchha, founder of NAIMA, has urged the government to set up a proper legal framework and appoint licensed battery recyclers, saying vehicle importers alone cannot manage Nepal’s growing battery waste.
He said battery management is now a major issue for electric vehicles, as well as mobile phones and laptops. Nepal still lacks clear laws, systems, and data on the real situation.
Golchha said many old mobile and laptop batteries are either taken informally to India or thrown into rivers and landfill sites. He stressed that lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries need different handling policies. Accident-damaged EV batteries often remain with customers, so it is not fair to hold importers solely liable.
He called for a shared responsibility model where government, importers, consumers and other stakeholders are all part of a structured collection and processing system. Current export rules and fixed value requirements also make formal battery export difficult. That pushes the market toward informal channels.
Golchha suggested that Nepal could follow India’s example by offering rebates on recycled lead-acid batteries. For lithium-ion batteries, plastics, copper and aluminium can be separated for sale, while black mass is exported to India until full local recycling infrastructure is built.
He warned that very strict rules without practical systems could create problems similar to those seen in the steel industry. He recommended giving licensed recyclers the exclusive mandate to collect and process waste batteries instead of forcing importers to do it alone.
Writes on vehicle pricing, taxation and the Nepali auto market from ongoing tracking of distributor price lists. Editorial policy.
