Page 19 from: Recycling International February issue | 2021

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19recyclinginternational.com | January/February | 2021

customs a few days ago showing a
container with shredded electronics
from France. The material wasn’t in
the best shape,’ Puckett says.
‘Exporting countries don’t take this
issue seriously enough. Even devel-
oped countries like the US have zero
legislation when it comes to shipping
electronic waste overseas.’
He believes many people think the cir-
cular economy is all about shipping
waste to foreign countries. ‘They see
the Basel Convention as an obstacle
rather than a protective measure to
help realise a truly sustainable waste
management infrastructure. It’s truly
mind-boggling.’
He concludes: ‘Please remember that
the circular economy is more than just
recycling on steroids.’

sKy high Battery deMand
‘It’s clear that the demand for electric
car battery materials cannot be met
without recycling,’ says Jeffrey
Spangenberger of Argonne National

Laboratory in the US. He predicts that
America will have a little shy of two
million tonnes of depleted electric
vehicle batteries by 2040. China and
Europe will reach this stage far sooner,
by 2032 and 2034, respectively.
‘I don’t have to say that lithium-ion
battery recycling can definitely be
done today – existing processes are
fairly mature,’ Spangenberger notes.
‘However, they produce lower value
products, like metal salts, that are not
revenue positive without tipping [gate]
fees for many materials. And the US is
trailing other countries when it comes
to battery recycling. We’re trying to
pick up steam and become a leader.’
In a bid to foster innovation, US
researchers from all over the country
joined forces to set up the Recell
Center in 2019. The initiative looks to
provide stability to the battery supply
chain, ‘to keep prices from swaying’,
while cutting back on the mining of
rare earths. ‘A concrete goal is to
bring down the costs of drive battery

packs so that everyone can afford an
electric car, which isn’t the case
today,’ the researcher states.

cathode-to-cathode
The recycling facility has four main
focus areas: direct cathode recycling
(separation, binder removal, relithia-
tion, and compositional change);
other material recovery (electrolyte,
graphite, electrode/foil); design for
recycling; and modelling and analysis.
‘We focus mainly on direct recycling. If
you can take out and fix a cathode
and then put it back in a battery, that
makes a lot more sense than recycling
the cathode into metal powder and
getting back only a third to half of the
value of the actual component,’
Spangenberger explains. ‘The thing is
not to break or damage the cathode
while doing so.’ He admits that han-
dling can be challenging but expects
this ‘cool technology’ to be further
developed and standardised in the
next few years.

materials to be an issue of great con-
cern. ‘The ongoing pandemic has
forced us to question the electronics
value chain. We urgently need to
close the loop for rare earth metals. If
we do things right, recycling can be a
major source of these high-tech met-
als.’
Leroy points out the EU gets 78% of
its lithium from Chile, for example.
‘We also turn to Brazil for 85% of nio-
bium while the US satisfies 88% of our
beryllium demand. Russia holds 40%
of our palladium, 92% of iridium
comes from South Africa and 93% of
magnesium is mined in China.’
Leroy told delegates that some mem-
ber states wrongly assume that
extended producer responsibility
means ‘exclusive’ producer responsi-
bility for manufacturers and brands,
taking the pressure off governments.
He expects the average e-waste gen-
erated per person worldwide to
exceed 7.5kg per year by 2030.
What’s more, the waste problem is
exacerbated by illegal waste exports,
indicating major underlying problems
that have yet to be addressed.

‘holes’ in the systeM
Jim Puckett of the Basel Action
Network echoes these sentiments,
saying there are ‘holes’ in the circular
economy. ‘We released a report about
this last year [2019], following an
investigation that tracked EU ship-
ments of used electronics via GPS.’
The products were deployed from ten
different countries, including
Germany. Instead of being processed
at municipal waste facilities within
Europe, several ended up in Asia. ‘The
beauty of GPS tracking is that it is
highly accurate. This method very
clearly shows the path of the waste
and its precise final destination, right
down to the square metre of land
where it sits.’
Though the report and documentary-
style video footage were well received
and widely covered in the media,
Puckett laments that little has
changed and believes the pandemic
has shifted the focus elsewhere.
‘We received a photo from Malaysian

Apple AirPods
are a ‘night-
mare’ to repair
and recycle,
according to
iFixit.

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