Who pays for the recycling of batteries?

Current battery recycling methods require a high amount of energy. It takes six to ten times the amount of energy to reclaim metals from recycled batteries than it would through other means. So who pays for this Recycling? We do. Specifically, participating countries impose their own rules in making recycling feasible. Battery recyclers claim that if a steady stream of batteries, sorted by chemistry, were available at no charge, recycling would be profitable. This is not the case, however, so preparation and transportation add to the cost.

In North America, some recycling plants bill on weight. The rates vary according to chemistry. Systems that yield high metal retrieval rates from batteries are priced lower than those which produce less valuable metals.

Nickel-metal-hydride yields the best return. It produces enough nickel to pay for the process. The highest recycling fees apply to nickel-cadmium and lithium ion batteries because the demand for cadmium is low and lithium-ion contains little retrievable metal.

Not all countries base the cost of recycling on the battery chemistry; some put it on tonnage alone. The flat cost to recycle batteries is about $1,000 to $2,000 per ton. Europe hopes to achieve a cost per ton of $300. Ideally, this would include transportation; however, moving the goods is expected to double the overall cost. For this reason, Europe sets up several smaller processing locations in strategic geographic locations.

The bottom line is that significant subsidies are still required from manufacturers, agencies and governments to support battery recycling programs. This funding is in the form of a tax added to each manufactured cell.

For additional information, visit www.batterygiant.com