I was reading [this article](https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/lithium-costs-a-lot-of-money-so-why-arent-we-recycling-lithium-batteries/) and I was still a bit confused as to what the problem is. The article mentioned that only 1% of lithium ion batteries are recycled. The lithium batteries seem to be a huge controversy and downside to EVs because of the negative environmental impact. Making lithium ion batteries recyclable would be a huge gamechanger for EVs so I was wondering if someone who knew more could explain why.
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It’s not impossible, it’s the batteries are recyclable. The is more doing economically and on large scales.
You run in 3 basic issues
1) The batteries are integrated within devices that need to be disassembled. It’s one thing to recycle a million batteries, it’s a different thing to collect 1 million iphones, open them up, extract the hardwired batteries and *then* recycle them.
2) There are tons of different kinds of devices and batteries. Maybe you can design a machine than quickly extract the batteries from iPhones, but when about the next gen of iPhones? Androids? Chromebooks? Then multiple that by the different batteries themselves, maybe the machine rip apart any phone, but if the batteries you collect are all different then you need X number of machines to recycle all the different batteries themselves.
3) It requires effort on the part of individuals. Imagine the stink people make about recycling fluorescent light bulbs, now you’re going make me take my phones, my headphones, my garmin watches, my X box controllers, to a recycling center *everytime I want a new one?* Ugh.
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