Lithium Battery Recycling Becomes a Global "Urban Gold Mine" in High Demand!

End-of-life lithium batteries, particularly retired lithium power batteries, are transforming from an "environmental burden" into a strategic resource.

With the accelerated development of the global new energy industry, this "urban gold mine" of retired lithium batteries is triggering intense competition among nations in recycling networks, technical standards, and resource circular utilization.

However, recent CCTV reports revealed a widespread dilemma in China's power battery recycling industry: "Compliant enterprises adhere to regulations but struggle to profit, while unregulated small workshops operate with low costs and high returns."

The report stated that formal recyclers comply with national standards, continuously investing in plant construction, equipment upgrades, environmental protection, and R&D, resulting in high costs and slow returns. In stark contrast, many unlicensed workshops disregard environmental requirements, dismantling batteries through crude methods. This not only pollutes the environment and creates safety hazards but also diverts waste battery resources from legitimate enterprises.

A State Council Development Research Center survey showed that by the end of 2023, China's NEV power battery standardized recycling rate remained below 25%, highlighting systemic challenges.

Against this backdrop, how can the recycling and reuse challenges of retired lithium batteries, including power batteries, be resolved?

Facing this critical situation, recent actions span from national to local regulatory authorities, while top-tier enterprises across the lithium battery industry chain intensify their strategic deployments.

Lithium Battery Recycling Emerges as a Globally Contested "Urban Gold Mine"

Industry chain leaders have keenly recognized the significance and vast potential of lithium battery recycling, prompting numerous domestic and overseas top-tier enterprises to rapidly expand operations in this sector.

On June 18 during EVE's 24th anniversary celebration, the company projected retired power battery volumes would reach 400GWh by 2030, with a 45% CAGR over the next five years.

Unit: 10,000 mt (Source: EVE's 24th anniversary event, compiled by Battery China)

Concurrently, EVE launched its transoceanic lithium battery recycling platform, planning to expand to 1,000+ collection points for a global network. Its digital traceability platform enables battery detection, while the CLS open collaboration model aims to establish a worldwide lithium battery recycling marketplace.

Currently, EVE has partnered with multiple enterprises across regions to jointly operate recycling points handling various lithium batteries, including power and consumer electronics batteries. By 2028, EVE is expected to achieve an annual lithium battery recycling capacity of 120,000 mt.

On the same day, Tianjin Brunp Taida Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. was registered and established in Tianjin. The company was jointly funded by Guangdong Brunp Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brunp Recycling (a holding subsidiary of CATL), and Tianjin TEDA Carbon Asset Management Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TEDA Corporation. The new company's business scope covers R&D in resource disassembly recycling technology, recycling and second-life application of end-of-life power batteries from NEVs, and processing of renewable resources. This move is expected to strengthen CATL's resource closed-loop capabilities in the lithium battery recycling sector.

Recently, the registered capital of Chengdu-based company under mining giant Tianqi Lithium was increased from 2.5 billion yuan to 8.7 billion yuan, representing a significant increase of 248%. Its business scope includes the sale of metal ore, recycling and second-life application of end-of-life power batteries from NEVs, among others.

In May this year, Huayou Recycling launched the "Huayou Recycling Partnership 2025", aiming to establish diverse cooperation models with partners globally, including business, technology, operations, and equity cooperation. This initiative seeks to continuously deepen global resource collaboration and technology sharing, promote the safe, green, and efficient recycling of end-of-life batteries, and drive the improvement of industry standards and the construction of a sustainable ecosystem.

Notably, in October 2024, China Resources Recycling Group Co., Ltd. was established in Tianjin. This newly formed central state-owned enterprise will specialize in resource recycling and undertake the important task of building a national and functional platform for resource recycling and reuse. This also highlights the country's strategic layout for constructing a circular economy system, aiming to resolve the "small, scattered, and disordered" challenges in the renewable resources industry through the leadership of central state-owned enterprises.

Regarding overseas enterprises, Toyota Tsusho and LG Energy Solution recently reached an agreement to establish a joint venture for recycling automotive power batteries in North Carolina, US.

The new company will crush and sort battery scrap to extract valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, and establish a supply chain that recycles recovered materials into new battery production. It is expected to commence operations in 2026.

However, not all enterprises entering the lithium battery recycling sector have had smooth sailing.

It was reported that on June 10, Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., once dubbed the "King of Battery Recycling in North America", announced that it had filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada to protect itself and its North American subsidiaries.

According to data, as of July 2023, the company had established an annual battery recycling capacity of 10,000 mt in North America and had reached long-term supply agreements with Ultium Cells (a joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem), LG Energy Solution, and others. However, by March 2024, its business expansion was hindered, and by 2025, it had filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada.

It is reported that Glencore, a major overseas mining giant, has agreed to make a "stalking horse" credit bid for some of Li-Cycle's subsidiaries and assets at a price of at least $40 million. Glencore's move may be aimed at strengthening its strategic layout in North America.

"One Battery, One Code" for Lithium Batteries: Sichuan Regulators Block Recycling Loopholes

As lithium battery companies accelerate the construction of recycling networks, and policy and industry sides work together, the industry is moving from enterprise exploration to a new stage of standardized development.

In response to issues such as the long recycling chain and complex flow of lithium batteries, especially lithium power batteries, relevant national authorities have successively issued policy documents to continuously strengthen source management and whole-process supervision.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration of China) has issued the national standard "Coding Rules for Lithium-ion Batteries," which will be implemented from November 1, 2025.

This is also regarded as the "digital ID" for lithium batteries in China, forming a "one battery, one code" system to record the full life cycle information of batteries from production to end-of-life, enabling full traceability of battery production, sales, use, recycling, dismantling, and reuse.

This not only helps regulatory authorities monitor battery flow and effectively curb the flow of end-of-life batteries into informal channels, but also provides accurate battery data support for formal recycling enterprises, facilitating the improvement of recycling efficiency and resource utilization rate, and allowing compliant enterprises to gain their due competitive advantages in the recycling market.

From the perspective of local policies, on June 1, 2025, the "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilization of Waste Power Batteries from New Energy Vehicles in Sichuan Province," the first special document on recycling and utilization issued in the name of a provincial government nationwide, came into effect to accelerate the transformation of local end-of-life power batteries from potential "pollution sources" to "resource pools."

Subsequently, the "Work Plan for the Construction of Regional Centers for Recycling and Utilization of Power Batteries from New Energy Vehicles in Sichuan Province" was issued to accelerate the construction of a well-networked, standardized, orderly, and efficient recycling and utilization system for waste power batteries.

This series of measures is expected to standardize the recycling market in Sichuan Province, potentially controlling the flow of end-of-life power batteries into small workshops from the source, and also providing relevant industrialization experience for the future recycling and reuse of power batteries nationwide.

In the domestic market, according to regulations from relevant departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), since 2016, passenger vehicle producers have been required to provide a warranty of at least 8 years or 120,000 kilometers for the core components of the three electric systems (battery, motor, and electronic control). This means that the first batch of new energy vehicles enjoying the policy have gradually entered the warranty expiration period, and the power battery recycling market is ushering in rapid development opportunities.

In overseas markets, major new energy markets such as Europe and North America have set stringent requirements for the proportion of recycled materials in lithium batteries. Lithium battery recycling, especially power battery recycling, is bound to become a key battleground in the global new energy industry chain. Breakthroughs in recycling and reuse technologies, as well as the establishment of a global recycling network, may become the core competitiveness for relevant enterprises to stand out.