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Waste & RecyclingBattery Recycling Today
Twenty flashcards on how lithium-ion batteries are collected, shredded and turned back into battery materials today, with data from EPA, the DOE ReCell Center, the DOE recycling prize and Redwood Materials.
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20 cards
- Why keep lithium-ion batteries out of the trash and the curbside recycling bin?
- They can be damaged or crushed in transport or by sorting equipment and start fires, and their critical minerals are lost.
- How should you pack a used lithium-ion battery for drop-off?
- Put each battery or device in its own plastic bag and cover the terminals with non-conductive tape, like electrical tape.
- Where can consumers recycle lithium-ion batteries?
- Certified electronics recyclers, retailer take-back programs or local household hazardous waste programs; Earth 911 and Call2Recycle help find one.
- How are most discarded lithium-ion batteries classed as waste?
- As ignitable and reactive hazardous wastes, codes D001 and D003, because they may catch fire or explode.
- Under which federal rules does EPA suggest businesses manage used lithium-ion batteries?
- The universal waste regulations, 40 CFR part 273.
- Recycling rate of lead-acid batteries in the U.S. in 2018?
- 99 percent; 2.9 million tons were recycled.
- Which common lithium-ion battery materials are on the 2022 U.S. critical minerals list?
- Aluminum, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite.
- After collection and sorting, what is a common next step in recycling?
- Shredding; batteries are discharged first or otherwise handled to prevent fires.
- What is black mass?
- A granular material made of the shredded cathodes and anodes, from which valuable metals are recovered.
- Besides black mass, what streams come out of shredding?
- Copper and aluminum foils, plastic separators, other plastics, steel cans and electrolyte.
- The two main methods to recover metals from black mass?
- Heat-based smelting (pyrometallurgy) and liquid-based leaching (hydrometallurgy).
- What does each method recover?
- Smelting generally recovers cobalt and nickel; leaching may recover high amounts of cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese.
- What is direct recycling?
- Also called cathode-to-cathode recycling: it keeps the engineered cathode structure intact, saving energy and manufacturing.
- What is the ReCell Center, and where is it based?
- The U.S. Department of Energy's first advanced battery recycling R&D center, based at Argonne National Laboratory.
- Who works together in the ReCell Center?
- A core of three national laboratories and three universities, with industry partners from across the battery supply chain.
- The ReCell Center's four focus areas?
- Direct recycling of materials, advanced resource recovery, modeling and analysis, and design for recycling.
- When did DOE launch the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize, and why?
- In 2019, to raise U.S. recovery rates of critical materials from lithium-based batteries and keep them in the domestic supply chain.
- What did DOE announce on July 28, 2026, about the prize?
- Eight winning teams of the Breakthrough Contest, each receiving $200,000 and advancing to Phase IV.
- What does Redwood Materials recover from end-of-life batteries?
- Lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper, building one of the largest domestic sources of these critical materials.
- When was Redwood Materials founded, and where are its campuses?
- In 2017; its Tahoe Campus is in Northern Nevada and its Carolina Campus near Charleston, where critical materials recovery began in November 2025.
Official sources
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Used Lithium-Ion Batteries
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling
U.S. Department of Energy ReCell Center (Argonne National Laboratory)
ReCell Center: advanced battery recycling R&D
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
DOE's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation Announces Winners of Lithium-Ion Recycling Prize Breakthrough Contest (2026-07-28)
Redwood Materials
Redwood Materials: critical materials and energy storage
Redwood Materials
About Redwood Materials (history and campuses)
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