Violent disassembly can easily cause fire and explosion, improper crushing can cause environmental pollution, and waste lithium batteries can be sold again as inferior ones... In recent years, with the rising prices of metal raw materials such as lithium, the waste lithium battery recycling industry has become a "hot" track. However, some manufacturers with incomplete qualifications have arbitrarily recycled and disassembled old batteries and carried out rough processing for profit, which has caused great safety hazards and needs to be paid attention to.

There are many chaos in the recycling of waste lithium batteries

"A large number of lithium batteries are recycled, and various lithium batteries are also sold. Welcome to consult." Open social media and search for "lithium battery recycling". Recycling information can be found everywhere, from mobile phone lithium batteries to new energy vehicle battery packs. The reporter randomly chatted with a "lithium battery recycling Lao Zhou". The other party was very enthusiastic and said that as long as there are lithium batteries, he can be contacted at any time for door-to-door recycling.

In the past two years, affected by the soaring prices of metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, waste lithium batteries have become "hot cakes", and a large amount of capital has poured into the waste lithium battery recycling industry. Since waste lithium batteries are not hazardous waste, the recycling threshold is low, which has spawned a large number of "middlemen". Waste lithium batteries are scattered in the hands of battery manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, third-party recycling companies, waste battery traders, dismantling and crushing plants and other entities.

"The current lithium battery recycling channels are chaotic, and it is difficult to trace the source of waste lithium batteries, which brings great obstacles to the comprehensive utilization of waste lithium batteries." said Liao Longjiang, chairman of Quannan County Ruilong Technology Co., Ltd.

The reporter found that in addition to "speculating", there are many small factories with incomplete qualifications engaged in the recycling and rough processing of waste lithium batteries. These small factories are usually located in hidden locations and have great environmental and safety risks.

"Disassembly and crushing do not have much technical content. I have seen workers in those small factories use hammers and large scissors to simply and roughly disassemble the battery packs, and then throw the materials into the crusher. The disposal plant can always smell an unpleasant smell." said a person in charge of a company engaged in lithium battery recycling.

The regulatory authorities have also noticed this type of illegal "small factory". In January last year, law enforcement officers from the Tangxia Branch of the Dongguan Ecological Environment Bureau of Guangdong Province discovered that an unlicensed small workshop was illegally processing waste lithium batteries. The factory area was filled with the smell of chemical solvents, and a large amount of flammable materials such as cardboard, rubber, and plastic fragments were piled near the lithium battery soaking area, posing a huge safety hazard. After investigation, the factory did not pass the environmental protection approval and self-inspection, and did not apply for a pollution discharge permit or fixed pollution source emission registration.

Some people take risks and repackage the waste lithium batteries for secondary sales. "At present, the industry standards for cascade utilization are not perfect, which makes regular enterprises dare not do cascade utilization, so "retired" lithium batteries will be used by profit-seeking people." Meng Dejiang, general manager of Jiangxi Guihang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said, "Electric bicycles often catch fire, and some of these incidents are related to the use of unqualified "retired" lithium batteries by merchants."

High-standard construction becomes a "disadvantage" and "white list" enterprises encounter embarrassment

In order to standardize the comprehensive utilization of waste lithium batteries, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced a total of 84 companies that meet the standard conditions since 2018, which are called "white list" companies in the industry. Reporters recently visited some "white list" companies, who said that the "white list" companies established with high standards are facing the embarrassing situation of "bad money driving out good money".

Raw materials are easily "stuck in the neck", and idle production capacity is the norm. For lithium battery comprehensive utilization companies, waste lithium batteries are their production raw materials. Liao Longjiang said that since waste lithium batteries are scattered in the hands of countless recycling entities, it costs more for white-list companies to connect one by one, and it is normal for production lines to be "not full".

According to the interviewed "white-list" companies, there is no threshold for recycling waste lithium batteries in some large vehicle manufacturers or battery factories. Anyone with money and connections can directly take them away, which is one of the reasons why "white-list" companies are "not full".

In terms of price, "traders pay special attention to prices. When the market is good, they try their best to ship goods. When the market is bad, they hold back and sell them. The quantity and price of raw materials of "white-list" companies cannot be stably supplied, affecting production and operation." said a manager of a "white-list" company.

In addition, the comprehensive cost of "white-list" companies is "disadvantaged", and sometimes they cannot compete with some "small factories" with incomplete certificates and licenses. Hu Jian, deputy general manager of production of Jiangxi Ruida New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said that "white-list" companies must ensure the efficiency of lithium battery recycling, environmental protection standards, and safe production, and invest heavily in research and development investment, equipment upgrades, and factory construction.

A lithium battery recycling company under Ganfeng Lithium also reflected that "these "small factories" with incomplete certificates and licenses have low operating costs. Compared with the "white list" companies with complete environmental protection and safety facilities, they can buy raw materials at higher prices and sell the processed products at lower prices, causing the "white list" companies to sometimes not be able to compete with them."

Accelerate the formulation of standards to promote healthy development

Experts and companies interviewed said that the recycling of waste lithium batteries can not only solve the environmental problems caused by retired lithium batteries, but also help to make up for the shortage of key mineral resources such as lithium, cobalt and nickel in China. With the advent of the "retirement tide" of new energy vehicle power batteries, it is advisable to focus on standardizing recycling channels, formulating industry standards, and strengthening supervision to promote the healthy development of the waste lithium battery recycling industry.

First, standardize recycling channels and improve the traceability mechanism. Dr. Weng Yaqing of the Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences believes that the recycling process of waste lithium batteries often produces pollutants such as waste gas, wastewater and heavy metal waste residues. From recycling to comprehensive utilization, green environmental protection is particularly important. Hu Jian and others suggested that the country should raise the entry threshold for recycling of used lithium batteries and establish a unified trading platform for used lithium batteries in China, which will help standardize the recycling channels of used lithium batteries and achieve traceability of used lithium batteries.

Secondly, formulate standards to guide the healthy development of the industry. Shen Zuying, director of the Three-Electricity Business Department of Jiangling Group New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., and others suggested that national standards such as the recycling evaluation and value evaluation of used lithium batteries should be formulated as soon as possible to guide the healthy development of the industry. Meng Dejiang said that used lithium batteries are used in a wide range of industries. We can first determine the specific industries and then formulate specific standards from the application perspective to ensure that the implementation is more operational.

In addition, supervision needs to be strengthened to ensure that the system is implemented and effective. Liao Longjiang and others said that the design and original intention of the "white list" system are good, but the implementation of a good system depends on the concerted efforts of multiple departments. The ecological environment, market supervision, transportation and other departments should strengthen supervision, such as increasing the intensity of investigation and punishment of processing plants with incomplete qualifications, and conducting regular inspections of lithium-ion bicycle dealerships, social waste recycling points, and vehicles transporting waste lithium batteries, gradually guiding the development of the entire industry to be more standardized, professional, and safe.

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