The entire world is focused on environmentally-friendly energy and technology, and the use of lithium batteries seems like a great solution to many of our problems when it comes to pollution.
What most people forget about is that lithium batteries have a lot of toxic materials in them and only a small portion of people know that recycling a lithium battery is pretty difficult. There are many recycling centres all around the world, but there is only a small percentage of these centres that can fully recycle a lithium battery. Unfortunately, most of the lithium batteries we use today will end up in a landfill somewhere.
When you think about it, lithium batteries are a solution for a few problems, but they cause additional problems as well. Because of this, it’s hard to say whether lithium batteries are something we should use in the long-run to persevere our planet and ecosystem.
It’s A Difficult And Expensive Process To Recycle Lithium Batteries
Even though lithium batteries are present on the market for quite some time, it’s still a very expensive and difficult process to recycle them completely. Most recycling centres recycle only a part of the batteries they get, while the other parts end up in landfills, polluting the soil and water.
When put on paper, it’s actually much more cost-efficient to make a new lithium battery than to recycle one. Because of this, leading companies that use lithium batteries are investing massive amounts in research and development to make lithium batteries reusable. This is especially important for electric car manufacturers because the batteries they use can last from 10 to 20 years, depending on how they were used, but the number of lithium batteries that needs to be recycled after changing those batteries can cost more than to produce a completely new vehicle.
A Very Small Number Of Countries Are Addressing This Issue
When it comes to recycling lithium batteries, only a small percentage of countries have regulations regarding this issue. For example, Australia collects and ships only 2-3% of all batteries overseas for recycling. This means that 97% of lithium batteries like Samsung 25r stay in Australia and eventually end up in the soil.
When it comes to the US and Europe, it’s only a slightly better situation, but countries from the two continents average around 5% of lithium battery recycling. By 2030, it’s expected that more than 11 million metric tons worth of lithium batteries will reach the end of their service life, which will become a massive issue! That’s why a lot of universities are working only on ways to recycle lithium batteries more efficiently. With the quick popularity of electric vehicles, we’ll have so much electric vehicle batteries that they’ll have a very negative effect on the environment.
One of the biggest electric vehicle manufacturers in the world, Tesla Inc., is working on a way to reuse the batteries from their older vehicles. This will significantly help the environment and give us more time to come up with a better solution when it comes to recycling these sources of electricity.
People Are Wondering If Electric Vehicles Are Actually A Good Solution
Because lithium batteries used in electric vehicles have a relatively short lifespan, people are debating whether the reduced air and sound pollution are worth the pollution that will end up happening in the soil after the batteries have reached the end of their lifespan.
It’s predicted that more than 140 million electric vehicles will be on the roads across the globe by 2030. This means that we have about 15 years to come up with a long-term plan on how to make lithium battery recycling more affordable. If not, we may be looking into a global eco-catastrophy in the making.
