Battery Recycling Market Trends

Global Battery Recycling Market Overview

Battery Recycling Market Size was valued at USD 24.11 Billion in 2023. The Battery Recycling industry is projected to grow from USD 26.93 Billion in 2024 to USD 54.2 Billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.14% during the forecast period (2024 - 2032).

Growing environmental concern all over the world has made recycling of used products an essential task so as to respond to the global demand of reducing mankind’s carbon footprint in the long run.  Other major reasons accounting for this substantial growth of the market during the forecast period will comprise of rising concerns regarding depleting precious and rare earth metals, growing demand for recycled battery on the whole, and stringent government regulations and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) guidelines aimed at reducing harmful emissions and reducing global pollution.

The battery recycling market growth is largely driven by rising concerns over battery waste disposal and strict government policies in light of the increased usage of lithium-ion battery. This increase in usage is attributable to the decline in lithium-ion battery prices and growing adoption of electric vehicles which largely depend on this battery type. The toxic waste that comes from manufacturing new batteries is much higher than the toxic waste generated while recycling of battery. That is a major reason many governments have introduced favorable regulations for this industry and these regulations are expected to have keep market trends growing upwards.

• March 2024- cylib, the sustainable end-to-end battery recycling firm, disclosed the completion of its €55 million Series A funding round in equity financing. Co-led by the foremost European environment tech VC World Fund and the venture arm of sports car manufacturer Porsche AG, Porsche Ventures, Bosch Ventures, NRW joined the round. Venture, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, present investors Speedinvest, Vsquared Ventures, 10x Founders and founded business angels. Significantly, cylib's funding round is the first venture co-investment from industrial giants Bosch and Porsche in Germany. The round, which is the biggest round ever raised by a European battery recycling company, was finished less than 24 months after the firm began operations. Cylib will utilize the funds to power the industrialization of its proprietary technology, which is already utilized by prominent OEMs and battery manufacturers, by leveling up its operations at an already-secured brownfield industrial plant in Germany. 

• May 2024- The corporate venture capital unit of the Germany-based Bosch Group, Bosch Ventures, has disclosed two substantial investments in the battery recycling sector within a week, targeting funds to Pineville, Germany-based Cylib, and North Carolina-based Li Industries. Ingo Ramesohl, the Bosch VenturesManaging Director, said that in an electrified world, battery recycling makes a substantial contribution to keeping natural resources, saying that with these investments, they can help Cylib and Li Industries to scale their production. Bosch's investment in Li Industries was first disclosed on May 9, when it co-led a $36 million Series B funding round together with LG Tech Ventures and Khosla Ventures. Zheng Li, Li Industries cofounder and CEO, said that they are happy to be supported by such a strong group of investors. As per the statement by Bosch, Li Industries is poised to fight substantial challenges in the lithium-ion battery circular supply chain with scalable solutions. Ramesohl says that Li Industries is the first and only firm in the U.S. capable of economically and sustainably recycling low/no cobalt batteries, such as lithium iron phosphate [LFP], at a level with their extraordinary Direct E2E recycling technology.

Battery Recycling Market Dynamics

Drivers

The global battery recycling market trends, during the forecast year, will be driven by a growing environment awareness worldwide. While manufacturing batteries is a relatively inexpensive procedure as compared to recycling them, the overall negative environmental impact that comes with manufacturing them is driving the governments towards recycling battery projects. To facilitate the players in the market, the governments have launched favourable regulations and policies which will further expand the global market share in the coming years

Opportunities

Major growth opportunities for the global battery recycling market lie in the technological advancements in the market. Innovative technological developments underway in this market will ensure creation of technologically advanced batteries recycling being developed by manufacturers. These innovations are estimated to create massive growth opportunities which will be conducive for the global market outlook during the forecast period.

The escalation in demand and production of hybrid vehicles and electric vehicle will be seen creating massive growth for the batteries market globally. However, with new batteries creating copious amounts of toxic metal waste, a major application here can be of similar metals through recycling. 

Restraints

The raw materials used in manufacturing new lithium-ion batteries – highest selling form of batteries – are available at a low costs, whereas recycling the same leads to very high costs. This will be a major restraining factor for the global market.

Also adding to this restraint is the existence of strong supply chains of raw materials vis-à-vis a massive comparative lack of the same for the recycling market. The low yield related to battery recycling is also likely to restrain the growth of the market in the coming years.  

Challenges

The global battery recycling market revenues will face a big challenge owing to the protection concerns associated with storehouses and the shipping of used batteries for recycling purposes. Growing focus on lithium ion battery recycling is a major recent global market trend observed in the recent years and various complications related to recycling the lithium-ion batteries, in the absence of relevant technologies, are also expected to hamper the overall market growth during the forecast period.

Battery Recycling Market - Value Chain Analysis / Technology Analysis / Regulatory Implications Outlook

Spent lead-acid batteries (LABs), widely scrapped from automobiles and electric bicycles, comprise solid waste and are classified as hazardous materials in many countries. Their disposal has become a significant global environmental concern. When car batteries and other lead-acid batteries are discarded in landfills, these toxic substances can leak into the environment. Therefore, recycling lead-acid batteries, while a rigorous process, is necessary to ensure that the different parts are safe to reuse after recycling.

With the depletion of high-quality lead ores, extraction costs are increasing exponentially hence, the global metallurgical industry is now focussing on recycled batteries as a significant secondary lead source globally.

Battery Recycling Market COVID-19 Analysis

With the widespread supply chain disruptions across the world and manufacturing processes hindered and/or suspended during the COVID-19 outbreak, the market growth was also hit. Issues such as labour shortages, raw material unavailability, stagnation of the global trade and subsequent delays in product installation in the market ecosystem have proven to be significant obstacles that the industry will have to adapt to. Delayed projects lead to increase in prices which, in turn, would further impede the market outlook. The report explains the impact at length and estimates the recovery time for the market growth in the near future.

Battery Recycling Market Competitive Landscape Insights

The major players in this market are spread across the world and have adopted effective strategies of expansions like agreements, partnerships, acquisitions, contracts, collaborations, investments, new technology launches, and divestments to enhance their position in the market.

List of the major companies in the global battery recycling market are:

• Call2Recycle, Inc. (US)


• Battery Solutions, LLC (US)


• Exide Technologies (US)


• Umicore (Belgium)


• Exide Industries Ltd. (India)


• Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) (China)


• GEM Co., Ltd. (China)


• EnerSys (US)


• Johnson Controls International plc (US)


• Aqua Metals, Inc. (US)


• Retriev Technologies Inc. (US)


• Gravita India Limited (India)


• ECOBAT Logistics (UK)


• Fortum Oyj (Finland)


• Teck Resources Limited (Canada)


• American Manganese Inc. (Canada)


• Glencore International AG (Switzerland)


• TES-AMM Singapore Pte Ltd (Singapore)


• RSR Corporation (US)


• COM2 Recycling Solutions (US)


• East Penn Manufacturing Company, Inc. (US)


• The Doe Run Company (US)


• Raw Materials Company Inc. (RMC) (Canada)


• Neometals Ltd (Australia)


• Terrapure Environmental (Canada)


• Gopher Resource LLC (US) 

Recent Developments in the Battery Recycling industry:

July 2023

EVE Energy Co. Ltd. and Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., two of the world's top lithium-ion battery resource recovery firms, are happy to announce that they have signed a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") to work together and investigate lithium-ion battery recycling options for EVE battery materials.

The MOU contains a framework for investigating environmentally sound recycling options for EVE lithium-ion battery components sold in the North American market as well as battery manufacturing waste produced at EVE's upcoming lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and Hungary. The partnership is anticipated to continue to assist the worldwide electrification revolution as well as EVE's environmental goals through a closed-loop supply solution. 

In addition to having a sizable manufacturing footprint for lithium-ion batteries in Asia, EVE has also declared plans to construct its first European battery manufacturing plant in Hungary. This facility will likely supply a significant global automaker with batteries for the creation of electric vehicles. A manufacturing plant for lithium-ion battery cells has also been announced by EVE for Malaysia.

Li-Cycle's advanced Spoke & Hub Technologies make it possible to recycle lithium-ion batteries, battery production waste, and important battery-grade elements like lithium, nickel, and cobalt in a secure and ecologically friendly manner. Li-Cycle's new technologies are positioned as a good recycling option for EVE's capacity to produce battery cells thanks to the total process's small environmental footprint, low direct greenhouse gas emissions, and low wastewater discharge.

July 2023

The recycling start-up Nth Cycle is establishing its first large-scale facility in Fairfield, Ohio, to manufacture a mixture of nickel and cobalt, which are essential components of lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles and smart phones. The method used by Nth Cycle entails soaking the crushed residues of dead batteries in a water-based solution before extracting certain metals using a succession of electrified filters. It also functions with metal scrap, mine debris, and electronic trash.

This report provides and in-depth analysis of battery recycling global market value and provides insights regarding the various factors expected to be prevalent and affect the global battery recycling industry throughout the forecast period taken various market dynamics into consideration.

In order to promote CATL's localization in Europe and develop a sustainable battery value chain in order to help reach global carbon neutrality goals, CATL is pursuing strategic cooperation with local partners in Europe in the areas of cathode active materials and battery recycling.

As a global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications, EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) has announced a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Verkor SAS, a leading European battery technology company, to explore the development of a gigafactory for lithium batteries in the U.S.

Battery Recycling Market Segment Overview

This battery recycling market analysis report categorizes the market based on chemistry, source, processing state, and region.

By Chemistry

• Lead-acid


• Lithium-based


• Nickel-based


• Others
  
  
  
  • Alkaline
  
  
  • Mercury
  
  
  • Zinc-carbon
  
  
  • Zinc-air
  
  
  
  

By Processing State

• Extraction of material
  
  
  
  • Reuse
  
  
  • repackaging
  
  
  • second life
  
  
  
  


• Disposal

By Recycling Process

• Hydrometallurgy


• Pyrometallurgy


• lead acid battery recycling process


• lithium-ion battery recycling process

By Material

• Metals


• electrolytes


• plastics


• others

By Source

• Automotive Batteries


• Industrial Batteries


• Consumer & Electronic Appliance Batteries

By Processing State

• Extraction of Material


• Reuse, Repackaging, & Second Life


• Disposal

By Region

• Asia Pacific


• North America


• Europe


• Middle East & Africa


• South America 

Battery Recycling Market Insights - Regional Analysis

The Asia Pacific region will be seen leading the market during the forecast period with the highest projected CAGR. An increase in the demand for electric vehicles and increasing environmental regulations in the APAC countries will be responsible for the growth of the Asia Pacific market. This market will be majorly driven by China, India, Japan, and South Korea.

Europe has always dominated the global recyclable battery market and a majority of its demand comes from countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia. In fact, Germany has retained its market leader position for lead-acid battery across Europe. Besides domestic consumption, Germany has also remained a regional hotspot for the trade of lead-acid batteries across the world.

The demand for battery cells in an environment friendly Europe is expected to exceed 300 GWh by 2026 – a growth attributable to the swift development in the electrification of transportation solutions owing to the European car OEMs. This will provide a massive boost and drive the market in Europe during the forecast period.