Principles of a Circular Economy for Batteries

The global market for batteries is rapidly growing, leading to significant material requirements to build up an in-use stock of batteries for mobility and stationary applications. One strategy to secure the material supply for batteries and simultaneously reduce the life cycle environmental impacts of batteries is the implementation of a circular economy for batteries, chiefly lithium-ion battery materials. In a circular economy, material cycles are narrowed, slowed, and closed to form cyclical or cascading material flows instead of linear take-make-waste schemes. The most common measures to implement a circular economy are so-called R-imperatives: refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture, refurbish, repurpose, recycle, and recover. By implementing these R-imperatives, batteries can be designed to provide the highest functional value with the lowest material requirements. Their life is prolonged by repair and remanufacturing activities, and the valuable materials can be recycled through various processes. Legislative initiatives like the EU Battery Regulation and technological development foster the implementation of such a circular economy for batteries.