Can you actually recycle lithium batteries?
We've got a new recycling center in our area now that also takes old phone and e-car batteries. But I'm wondering if that's really worthwhile or if a lot of waste ends up being created anyway.
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You can recycle lithium batteries and it definitely makes sense. The way recycling works is that the batteries get taken apart and valuable materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper are recovered. Then those can be used again for new batteries. That's important because these raw materials are expensive and mining them causes serious damage to the environment. By now the recycling processes are also pretty mature - there are different methods like pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes that achieve pretty decent recovery rates for materials.
Of course it's not 100% perfect and there are leftover materials, but most of the materials can actually be recycled. So the new center where you are is a good thing - take your batteries there instead of throwing them in the trash. The more batteries that get recycled, the more economical it becomes for the operators too. Plus there are now EU regulations saying a certain percentage of raw materials has to be recovered. So it really is worth taking them there.
Not all batteries are equally worth recycling - with very old or damaged ones, the effort is sometimes greater than the benefit. The other answers are right that valuable raw materials get recovered, but honestly the process isn't completely loss-free either. Some of the materials are lost in processing, and depending on the recycling method, waste products are created that have to go somewhere else.
Still: your new local center is a good thing. Better that the batteries end up there than in regular waste incineration, where nothing gets reused at all. The industry will make recycling more and more efficient anyway as more material becomes available - it simply makes financial sense for the operators.
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