South Korea Begins Building Certification System for Recycled Battery Materials

Published: Jun 29, 2026 16:36

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The South Korean government has begun work to establish a system that officially certifies the value of key minerals extracted from waste batteries, such as lithium and nickel, as recycled raw materials.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced on June 25 that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a pilot project on the battery recycled raw material production certification system at the President Hotel in Seoul, with six waste battery recycling companies and the Korea Environment Corporation participating.

Through the pilot project, the government plans to verify the certification method in actual production processes before fully implementing the system in May next year.

The battery recycled raw material production certification system is a scheme under which the government officially confirms that key battery materials, such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, produced by recycling waste batteries recovered from electric vehicles and other sources are recycled raw materials derived from waste resources.

The certification will cover eight types of materials: lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate, manganese sulfate, graphite, mixed metal precipitate and cathode active materials.

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