<p>Circular economy signifies the conversion of waste to wealth, and it addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The demand for LIBs in current panorama is all time high due to continuous innovation in electronics and frequent changes for new devices. An increase in accruement of waste batteries and improper disposal can lead to environmental- and health-related problems. In this work, an environmentally friendly hydrometallurgical method is followed to recover the cobalt metal from spent cathode material. The recovered cobalt is directly utilized to synthesize MOF-based CuO and Co₃O₄ and carried out XRD, SEM/EDS, XPS and ICP-OES analyses to understand its physiochemical properties. In this investigation, cobalt is recovered using combinational acids (citric acid + oxalic acid + salicylic acid) and H₂O₂ and achieved the recovery of ~ 89% from spent cathode. XRD reveals the formation of monoclinic and cubic structure for M⁺/MOF@CuO and M⁺/MOF@Co₃O₄ samples, respectively. ICP-OES confirms the presence of cobalt metal in the leached solution with minor impurities (Al, Li, Ni, Mn), and thus, recovered cobalt is successfully utilized into MOF catalyst. SEM images reveal the formation of spherically shaped particles with average particle diameter of 0.25 and 1&#xa0;μm for M⁺/MOF@CuO and M⁺/MOF@Co₃O₄, respectively. The dielectric properties of the samples are investigated at room temperature in the range of 100&#xa0;Hz–5&#xa0;MHz. The results evince the conduction through the grains and grain boundaries, which are determined through complex impedance analysis fitted with an equivalent circuit model. In addition, comparing M⁺/MOF@Co₃O₄ with M⁺/MOF@CuO sample, copper-based sample exhibited better impedance properties because of higher conductivity and faster charge dynamics.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>