Battery recycling spans portable cells, lead-acid batteries, electric-vehicle packs and stationary storage. The statistics below separate collection from recycling output, capacity from throughput, and observed results from estimates or forecasts across the EU, United States, China and global markets.
Key Battery Recycling Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- Around 40% of EV batteries deployed globally were LFP in 2023, according to an estimate for the global EV-battery population.
- EU used portable-battery collections reached 117,000 tonnes in 2023, measured across the European Union.
- EU portable-battery collection equaled 48.8% of sales in 2023, using average sales from 2021–2023.
- Seventeen EU countries reached at least a 45% portable-battery collection rate in 2023, among countries with reported data.
- Twenty of 24 EU countries with 2023 data met the 65% lead-acid efficiency target, a category-specific result.
- Global battery-recycling capacity exceeded 300 GWh per year in 2023, an estimate of available capacity rather than actual throughput.
- More than 80% of global recycling capacity was in China in 2023, while Europe and the United States each had less than 2%.
- Global pretreatment and material-recovery capacity grew 50% year on year in 2023, according to an IEA estimate.
- The global battery-recycling market was estimated at $2 billion in 2023, including collection, reuse and processing.
- The global battery-recycling market is forecast at $17 billion in 2030, compared with $2 billion in 2023.
- Production scrap is projected to provide half of recycling feedstock in 2030, while retired EV batteries provide about 20% in the cited global outlook.
- End-of-life EV and storage batteries are projected to exceed 90% of available feedstock by 2050, a forecast rather than a current share.
- Direct recycling could reduce recycling costs by 40%, based on a technology assessment rather than fleet-wide operating results.
- Direct recycling could reduce energy use by 82% and water use by 77%, under the same technology-assessment assumptions.
- Recycling could supply 20–30% of global lithium, nickel and cobalt demand by 2050, with higher collection potentially raising that range to 30–40%.
- EPA recorded 245 lithium-ion fires in US waste facilities from 2013 through 2020, including incidents in material-recovery facilities, landfills and transport.
- US lead-acid batteries had an industry-reported recycling rate of 99.3%, while alkaline batteries had an estimated rate of 4% in the latest rates cited by EPA.
- EU portable-battery collection targets are 63% by 2027 and 73% by 2030, under the EU batteries regulation.
Contents
- Battery chemistry and recycling feedstock data
- Collection volumes and recycling efficiency
- Capacity, geography and market growth
- Feedstock timing and recycling forecasts
- Material recovery, costs and environmental outcomes
- Safety incidents, policy targets and participation
Battery Chemistry and Recycling Feedstock Data
Battery chemistry affects both the composition of recyclable material and the likely value of recovery. The IEA estimated that LFP represented around 40% of EV batteries deployed globally in 2023, while recovered nickel and cobalt exceeded 40% of theoretically available feedstock and recovered lithium reached 20% that year.
The recovered-metal figures are not collection rates or process yields. They compare recovered metal volumes with theoretically available feedstock, so they should not be read as the share of all batteries collected or successfully processed.
The market value of recycled battery metals grew nearly 11-fold from 2015 to 2023, with 40% of that increase occurring during the final three years of the period. The IEA notes that the comparison starts from a low base, making the fold change an estimate of market-value expansion rather than a volume measure.
Source: Executive summary – Recycling of Critical Minerals – Analysis.
Battery Collection Volumes and Recycling Efficiency
EU portable-battery data provides one of the clearest observed pictures of collection. Used portable-battery collections increased from about 50,000 tonnes in 2009 to about 117,000 tonnes in 2023, while the 2023 collection rate was 48.8% of sales.
The sales comparison uses average sales from 2021–2023, and Eurostat flags the 2022 and 2023 sales figures as estimates. Collection is not the same as recycling output.
| EU portable-battery measure | Result | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Used batteries collected | 117,000 tonnes | 2023, EU |
| Collection rate | 48.8% of sales | 2023, EU; 2021–2023 average sales |
| Collected volume | About 50,000 to about 117,000 tonnes | 2009–2023, EU |
| Countries at or above 45% collection | 17 countries | 2023, EU countries with data |
For recycling efficiency, 20 of 24 EU countries with 2023 data achieved the 65% lead-acid target. “Other-battery” efficiency ranged from 50.7% in Latvia to 85.3% in Spain.
EU efficiency targets in the cited framework were 65% for lead-acid batteries, 75% for nickel-cadmium batteries and 50% for other batteries, measured by average weight. These are category-specific targets and results, not a single rate for every battery type.
Source: Waste statistics – recycling of batteries and accumulators.
Battery Recycling Capacity, Geography and Market Growth
Capacity is expanding rapidly, but capacity is not throughput. The IEA estimated global battery-recycling capacity above 300 GWh per year in 2023, with more than 80% located in China; Europe and the United States each had less than 2%.
A related IEA estimate put China’s share of global pretreatment and material-recovery capacity at 80% in 2023, after those global capacities grew 50% year on year. Announced projects could leave China with 75% of pretreatment capacity and 70% of material-recovery capacity in 2030.
| Market or capacity measure | Result | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Global recycling capacity | More than 300 GWh/year | 2023, global estimate |
| China’s share of global capacity | More than 80% | 2023, global estimate |
| Europe’s and US shares | Less than 2% each | 2023, global estimate |
| Global pretreatment and recovery-capacity growth | 50% year on year | 2023, global estimate |
| US material-reclaim potential | 35,500 tons | 2023, facilities as of October 1 |
The market-value estimates show a different dimension of growth. The global battery-recycling market was estimated at $2 billion in 2023, including collection, reuse and processing, while the US market was estimated at $379 million in 2022 and consisted mostly of lead-acid recycling.
The global market is forecast at $17 billion in 2030 versus $2 billion in 2023. These are market-value estimates and forecasts, not direct measures of tonnes processed.
Sources: Outlook for battery and energy demand – Global EV Outlook 2024 – Analysis, Executive summary – Recycling of Critical Minerals – Analysis, Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries FY22 End of Year Report, and Battery Collection Best Practices Report to Congress.
Battery Recycling Feedstock Timing and Forecasts
The timing of feedstock matters because battery demand rises before equivalent end-of-life volumes arrive. The IEA estimates a roughly 15-year lag between EV-battery demand growth and comparable end-of-life volumes globally.
For 2030, one IEA outlook projects production scrap at half of recycling feedstock and retired EV batteries at about 20%. Another IEA estimate places manufacturing scrap at two-thirds of available feedstock, reflecting a different forecast framing and definition of available material.
By 2050, end-of-life EV and storage batteries are projected to exceed 90% of available feedstock. Under an IEA announced-capacity scenario, announced recycling capacity could be more than three times potentially recyclable supply in 2030.
Regional forecasts also show a mismatch between planned plants and material availability. China could represent about 70% of projected global recycling capacity in 2030, with Europe and the United States about 10% each; announced capacity in Europe and the United States covers only 30% of feedstock in the IEA 2040 scenario, while India’s covers 10%.
Those figures are scenario or announced-project forecasts, so actual capacity, feedstock and outcomes may differ. If used-EV exports follow conventional-car patterns, advanced economies and China could lose 25%, or 1 TWh, of feedstock by 2050, while developing economies could gain 50%, or 0.5 TWh, under that conditional scenario.
Sources: Electric vehicle batteries – Global EV Outlook 2026 – Analysis, Executive summary – Recycling of Critical Minerals – Analysis, and Executive summary – Global EV Outlook 2024 – Analysis.
Material Recovery, Battery Recycling Costs and Environmental Outcomes
Direct recycling can preserve more of a battery’s material structure than routes that break materials down into basic chemical constituents. A Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries assessment using 2019 source data estimated potential reductions of 40% in recycling costs, 82% in energy use, 77% in water use and 91% in SOx emissions under direct-recycling assumptions.
These are technology-assessment potentials, not measured fleet-wide outcomes. Results depend on the process, feedstock and energy inputs.
The same report compared the material intensity of recycling and primary extraction. One ton of battery-grade cobalt could come from about 28 tons of spent lithium-ion batteries versus 250 tons of ore, while one ton of battery-grade lithium could come from 5–15 tons of spent lithium-ion batteries versus 750 tons of brine or 300 tons of ore.
| Battery material | Spent Li-ion batteries | Primary source comparison |
|---|---|---|
| One ton of battery-grade cobalt | About 28 tons of spent batteries | About 250 tons of ore |
| One ton of battery-grade lithium | 5–15 tons of spent batteries | 750 tons of brine or 300 tons of ore |
The IEA projects that battery recycling could supply 20–30% of global lithium, nickel and cobalt demand by 2050 with improved collection. Higher collection could raise recycled supply to 30–40%, while lower collection could limit it to 15–25%.
EV-battery reuse in storage could meet about 10% of global storage demand by 2050 in the cited outlook. Separately, a 2020 lifecycle assessment estimated that mainstream pyro- and hydrometallurgy added about 10% to an EV battery’s greenhouse-gas footprint versus primary materials; the result depends on process and energy inputs.
Sources: Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries FY22 End of Year Report, Executive summary – Recycling of Critical Minerals – Analysis, and Global EV Outlook 2020 – Analysis.
Battery Recycling Safety Incidents, Policy Targets and Participation
Collection systems affect both recovery and fire safety. EPA recorded 245 lithium-ion fires in US waste facilities from 2013 through 2020: 68 at material-recovery facilities, 139 at landfills, 15 during transport and 23 in other settings.
Of the recorded waste-management fires, 89% were definitely caused by lithium-ion batteries and the remainder were considered likely. Reported fires rose from two at one facility in 2013 to 65 across 16 facilities in 2020, although the EPA notes that the methodology may skew the trend and the data is likely underreported.
US battery rates are not equally well established. The latest rates cited in EPA’s report put lead-acid recycling at 99.3% based on industry reporting and alkaline-battery recycling at an estimated 4%; EPA says there is no widely accepted national US lithium-ion rate, and the often-cited 5% figure originated in Europe and is nearly a decade old.
US and Canadian lithium-ion material-recovery capacity was forecast to rise from 5,150 metric tons in 2021 to 1,175,300 metric tons in 2030. That is capacity, not throughput.
EU policy sets future participation and recovery benchmarks:
- Portable-battery collection targets are 63% by 2027 and 73% by 2030.
- Light-transport waste-battery collection targets are 51% by 2028 and 61% by 2031.
- Lithium-recovery targets are 50% by 2027 and 80% by 2031.
- Initial recycled-content minimums are 16% cobalt, 85% lead, 6% lithium and 6% nickel.
The EU targets come from the regulation adopted in 2023. EPA incident and rate figures can be incomplete or based on reported or industry-supplied data, so they should not be treated as a complete global participation picture.
Sources: An Analysis of Lithium-ion Battery Fires in Waste Management and Recycling, Battery Collection Best Practices Report to Congress, and Council adopts new regulation on batteries and waste batteries.