Inside the Race to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries Safely and Sustainably
By Gage Edwards
October 16, 2025
We¢re now surrounded by electric vehicles, portable electronics, and are likely within 10 feet of someone who has a disposable vape on them. Meaning, lithium-ion batteries have become indispensable to daily life and to the modern energy economy. And we¢ve talked at length about the serious issues of these batteries and what happens when they enter waste and recycling streams, so it¢s important to know what to do with these devices and who is making waves in battery recycling.
Each day, I make a quick Google search to see what¢s happening with recycling, landfills, and batteries, and the number of announcements, articles, and warnings I find about batteries in waste streams is staggering. Every day, it¢s another dangerous, costly fire, a chemical leak, or a serious hazard to workers. It¢s no secret that lithium-ion batteries are responsible for countless fires each year due to improperly discarded materials like batteries themselves, earbuds, or even those festive, singing greeting cards. A short-circuit in a battery trying to sing a royalty-free version of Happy Birthday can have disastrous results.
Fires are a known risk, but it¢s important to note the toxic chemicals that can leach into soil and groundwater from batteries.
While preventing fires is number one on the list, battery recycling can have an economic impact by recovering heavy metals that could be lost to soil or groundwater. A ScienceDirect study found that battery recycling could save up to 51 percent of the natural extracted resources, presenting a large advantage in natural resource savings. However, MDPI reports that less than 5 percent of lithium-ion batteries are recycled globally.
One of the biggest challenges with lithium-ion batteries is infrastructure, or a lack thereof. We¢re dealing with inconsistencies in collection and logistics, and an ever-changing task to keep up with battery design and chemistry as both constantly evolve. Even for recyclers ready to process these materials, it isn¢t always so simple.
While it¢s easy to harp on the bad and scary sides of batteries and why we need to be so aware of them, there is a wave of companies taking the problem head-on. These companies are building technologies that could make large-scale battery recycling both safe and profitable, turning a costly hazard into a circular economy opportunity and proving what is possible when resources align.
Redwood Materials processes 20 GWh of lithium-ion batteries annually, which represents about 90 percent of all lithium-ion batteries recycled in North America. Redwood is able to refine recovered materials such as nickel, lithium, and cobalt back into new battery-grade inputs, reducing dependence on mining.
“Battery use is skyrocketing across EVs, consumer electronics, and energy storage, and so is demand for the metals inside them. Mining and refining are resource-intensive and often concentrated in regions with heightened geopolitical risk. Recycling keeps critical minerals, like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, in circulation and helps build a secure, domestic battery supply chain, while keeping batteries out of the waste stream,” said Morgan Crapps, Director of Public Affairs & Government Relations at Redwood Materials in a Q&A with Waste360.com.
In 2023, Ascend Elements opened an EV battery recycling facility in Georgia, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States. The plant can process 30,000 metric tons per year, which is enough for approximately 70,000 electric vehicles. Its “Hydro-to-Cathode” process can convert recovered metals into new cathode materials, which is a critical step in creating a circular EV supply chain.
Last year, Green Li-ion launched a lithium-ion battery recycling process in Oklahoma. The company¢s first commercial-scale installation works to produce sustainable, battery-grade materials. Green Li-ions technology uses a novel and advanced hydrometallurgical approach that directly converts recycling scrap into battery-grade precursor cathode active materials.
Battery recycling is on the move from niche to norm. I rarely have an industry conversation anymore that doesn¢t include some mention of batteries. With that, we all can see that battery recycling needs the same kind of investment and infrastructure that once built curbside recycling. Not only to keep batteries out of landfills at a minimum, but get them into the hands of companies that are closing the loop with sustainable practices.
Batteries are near the top of the list in challenges the recycling industry is facing, but it also remains one of the industry's biggest opportunities. The companies leading the charge are demonstrating that with innovation, partnership, and policy alignment, we can keep valuable materials circulating and keep dangerous materials out of our waste streams.
https://www.waste360.com/industry-insights/inside-the-race-to-recycle-lithium-ion-batteries-safely-and-sustainably
