Time to recharge?
The absence of UK recycling facilities for lithium-ion batteries has prompted a review of the situation.
With electric vehicles now replacing those powered by combustion engines, there are serious considerations to be made:
- Wastage of precious metals needs to be minimised
- Carbon footprint
- Adoption of a circular economy
- UK supply chain for electric vehicles that is internationally competitive
- ‘Gigafactories’* for manufacturing batteries
- Understanding battery requirements and priorities within a UK supply chain
Draft proposals on EU Batteries Legislation are being considered by Defra, in addition to reviewing UK domestic batteries legislation. This could incorporate a Deposit Refund Scheme (DRS) within ‘supply chain due diligence’. A powerful incentive to improve collection rates, this would, most importantly, help protect waste facilities from the risk of fires.
Government investment of £318m, by way of the ‘Faraday Battery Challenge,’** will spearhead UK design, development, manufacturing, and recycling of electric batteries.
Ultimately, we need to recharge our approach and effectiveness towards battery collection and recycling rates, and also to power up demand in recyclates.
*a battery-production facility that’s simply gigantic in scale and brings multiple companies and components together to scale up lithium-ion battery production at an unprecedented level.
**The Faraday Battery Challenge represents a UK Government investment of £330 million between 2017 and 2022. The challenge aims to support a world-class scientific, technology development and manufacturing scale-up capability for batteries in the UK. The challenge is focused on developing cost-effective, high-performance, durable, safe, and recyclable batteries to capture a growing market.
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