Supply Chain: Recycling & Secondary Markets

The EU and India Remain Leaders in Setting Recycled Content Standards, Though Targets Differ in Specificity Multiple analyses predict that the EUʼs RCSs may be difficult to achieve given todayʼs recycling technology and feedstock levels, depending on the material. Thus, many worry that the EUʼs RCSs could have unintended consequences, like disincentivizing reuse and repurposing, encouraging shorter battery lifespans, and encouraging higher manufacturing waste rates. Similarly, experts have identified a number of challenges to achieving Indiaʼs RCSs, including a lack of battery data management infrastructure (and relatedly, battery passports), formal end-of-life battery collection, and technical standards for recycling technology.

EU RCS (NEW BATTERY REGULATION 2023):

INDIA RCS (BATTERY WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES 2022):

Material

Battery Type

Cobalt

Portable

Lead

Electric Vehicle

Lithium

Nickel

Automotive

Industrial

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.