LITHIUM RECYCLING

In theory, the world’s lithium supply could be stretched by recycling old lithium batteries. But with demand rising so rapidly, the reality is that there aren’t currently enough ageing ones to make a major dent in the need.

Compounding the problem is cost. “It’s fairly simple to extract the lead plates from a leadacid battery, but much harder to extract lithium,” says Edward Goo of the University of Southern California. Also, he notes, “lead is toxic, while lithium is not, so disposal of lead is expensive, making recycling a viable option.”

There are also technical issues. “A battery at the end of its life isn’t really stable,” says Jordy Lee of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. In fact, he notes, not that long ago there were occasional reports of them exploding in electronic devices. “They’re just not conducive to having big piles of them to recycle,” he says.