Attero sees increase in e-scrap takeback activity

Attero's direct-to-consumer electronic scrap take-back platform Selsmart now is active in more than 25 cities in India and is arranging some 30,000 obsolete IT equipment pick ups or drop-offs per month.

Attero, based in New Delhi, India, says it has “laid out a clear roadmap” to reach 150,000 monthly orders, which would help it handle some 750,000 tons of obsolete electronics in total by next March. That same forecast means Selsmart would have achieved some $57.1 million in revenue by that time.

The company expects the Selsmart platform user base to grow sixfold, from 500,000 users currently to more than 3 million, by the end of this year.

Launched in mid-2024, Attero says Selsmart was introduced to solve a growing gap in India’s waste infrastructure—how to get unused electronics out of homes, shops and offices, and into verified recycling channels.

Attero describes the IT and consumer electronics return supply chain in India as historically “fragmented and broken.”

“Selsmart addresses this challenge through a fully digitized model that integrates OEM contracts, brand trade-in programs and retail partnerships into a single, organized system," the company says.

The Selsmart model blends convenience, door step pick-up, instant digital payout and end-to-end traceability in a way that allows anyone to schedule a pickup in a handful of computer or smartphone clicks.

“What we are building with Selsmart is infrastructure that speaks to the future,” Attero co-founder and CEO Nitin Gupta says. “The real value lies not just in the numbers, but in how we are shifting behavior at the ground level. We have made it easy for people and businesses to take the right step with their old electronics.

“The network we are creating will serve the country’s growing demand for circular resources without putting additional pressure on mining or manufacturing. It is smart, local and built for scale."

This June, Attero announced plans to invest to increase its ability to make recycled-content rare earth elements (REE), rising from its current 300 metric tons per year level to 30,000 metric tons of annual capacity.

Regarding Selsmart, Attero has signed up with three leading air-conditioning makers to manage their complete offline and webstore exchange programs and has partnered with two other multinational corporations to run the full trade-in process for their electronics category at the webstore level in India.

Attero also has joined with two home appliances makers to offer consumer vouchers and coupons for new sales at their brand stores both online and offline based on returns made.

The Selsmart business unit of Attero runs a network of warehouses in the cities it operates, which the firm says are positioned in high-density residential and commercial zones.

“Recognizing that data security is a key concern for consumers, especially in the IT sector, Selsmart ensures secure data erasure for all collected devices before they enter the recycling process,” Attero says.

In addition to REEs, Attero says its patented recycling technology has been designed to recover gold, silver, cobalt, copper and lithium from discarded electronics with "world-class efficiency.”

Attero describes itself as India's largest e-scrap recycling company that also has a presence in Australia, Poland, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.