Violent dismantling is prone to fire and explosion, improper breakage can cause environmental pollution, and waste lithium batteries are resold as good. In recent years, with the rise in prices of lithium and other metal raw materials, the recycling and utilization industry of waste lithium batteries has become a "hot" track. However, some manufacturers with incomplete qualifications illegally recycle and dismantle old batteries and engage in rough processing for profit, causing great safety hazards that urgently need to be taken seriously.

There is a lot of chaos in the recycling and utilization of waste lithium batteries

We recycle a large number of lithium batteries and also sell various types of lithium batteries. Please feel free to inquire. "Open social media and search for" lithium battery recycling ". Recycling information for small mobile phone lithium batteries and large new energy vehicle battery packs can be seen everywhere. The reporter randomly chatted with a "lithium battery recycling old week", who was very enthusiastic and said that as long as there were lithium batteries, they could contact him at any time for on-site recycling.

In the past two years, due to the high prices of metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, waste lithium batteries have become a "hot commodity", and a large amount of capital has poured into the waste lithium battery recycling industry. Due to the fact that waste lithium batteries are not classified as hazardous waste and have a low recycling threshold, a large number of "middlemen" have emerged. Waste lithium batteries are dispersed among battery production enterprises, vehicle manufacturers, third-party recycling companies, waste battery traders, dismantling and crushing plants, and other entities.

The current channels for recycling lithium batteries are chaotic, and it is difficult to trace the source of waste lithium batteries, which poses great obstacles to the comprehensive utilization of waste lithium batteries, "said Liao Longjiang, Chairman of Quannan Ruilong Technology Co., Ltd.

The reporter's research found that in addition to "buying and selling", there are also many small factories with incomplete qualifications engaged in the recycling and rough processing of waste lithium batteries. These small factories are usually located in hidden places and have significant environmental and safety hazards.

The dismantling and crushing process doesn't require much technical expertise. I have seen workers from small factories using hammers and large scissors to roughly open battery packs and then throw the materials into the crusher. The disposal plant can always smell an unpleasant odor, "said a person in charge of a lithium battery recycling company.

Regulatory authorities have also noticed such illegal 'small factories'. Last January, law enforcement officers from Tangxia Branch of Dongguan Ecological Environment Bureau in Guangdong Province discovered an unlicensed small workshop illegally processing waste lithium batteries. The factory area was filled with the smell of chemical solvents, and a large amount of flammable materials such as cardboard, rubber, and plastic fragments were piled up near the lithium battery soaking area, posing a great safety hazard. After investigation, it was found that the factory building has not passed environmental protection approval and self acceptance, and has not obtained a pollutant discharge permit ｏｒ registered for fixed pollution source emissions.

Some people take the risk of repackaging and reselling used lithium batteries. At present, the industry standards for tiered utilization are not very perfect, which leads to formal enterprises being afraid to do tiered utilization. Therefore, 'retired' lithium batteries will be used by profit seeking people, "said Meng Dejiang, the general manager of Jiangxi Guihang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd." Electric bicycles often catch fire and burn, and some of these incidents are related to businesses using unqualified 'retired' lithium batteries

High standard construction becomes a "disadvantage" and "whitelist" enterprise, facing embarrassment

In order to standardize the comprehensive utilization industry of waste lithium batteries, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced a total of 84 enterprises that meet the regulatory requirements since 2018, which are referred to as "whitelist" enterprises in the industry. Recently, reporters visited some "whitelist" companies and they stated that high standard "whitelist" companies are facing the embarrassing situation of "bad money driving out good money".

Raw materials are easily "choked" and idle production capacity is the norm. For lithium battery comprehensive utilization enterprises, waste lithium batteries are their production raw materials. Liao Longjiang stated that due to the scattered waste lithium batteries in the hands of countless recycling entities and the need for whitelist companies to connect one by one, higher costs are required, and "not being able to eat enough" on the production line is the norm.

According to the interviewed "whitelist" companies, some large vehicle ｏｒ battery factories do not set thresholds for the recycling of waste lithium batteries, and whoever has the money ｏｒ connections can be directly dragged away. This is also one of the reasons why "whitelist" companies are "not satisfied".

In terms of price, "traders are particularly concerned about prices. When the market is good, they sell hard, but when the market is bad, they hold back their stocks and hesitate to sell. The quantity and price of raw materials for 'whitelist' enterprises cannot be stably supplied, which affects production and operation," said a manager of a 'whitelist' enterprise.

In addition, the comprehensive cost of "whitelist" enterprises is at a disadvantage, and sometimes they cannot compete with some "small factories" with incomplete licenses. Hu Jian, Deputy General Manager of Production at Jiangxi Ruida New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said that "whitelist" enterprises need to ensure lithium battery recycling efficiency, environmental standards, and safe production, and invest heavily in research and development, equipment upgrades, factory construction, and other aspects.

A lithium battery recycling company under Ganfeng Lithium also reported that "these 'small factories' with incomplete licenses have low operating costs. Compared with' whitelist 'companies with complete environmental protection and safety facilities, they can buy raw materials at higher prices, and the processed products are sold at lower prices, resulting in' whitelist 'companies sometimes not being able to compete with them

Accelerate the formulation of standards and promote healthy development

The interviewed experts and enterprises stated that the recycling and utilization of waste lithium batteries can not only solve the environmental problems caused by retired lithium batteries, but also help to make up for the shortage of key mineral resources such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel in China. As the retirement trend of new energy vehicle power batteries approaches, efforts should be made to standardize recycling channels, establish industry standards, and strengthen supervision to promote the healthy development of the waste lithium battery recycling industry.

Firstly, standardize the recycling channels and improve the traceability mechanism. Dr. Weng Yaqing from the Institute of Applied Chemistry, Jiangxi Academy of Sciences believes that the recycling process of waste lithium batteries often produces pollutants such as exhaust gas, wastewater, and heavy metal waste residue. From recycling to comprehensive utilization, green environmental protection is particularly important. Hu Jian and others suggest that the country raise the entry threshold for the recycling of waste lithium batteries and establish a unified national platform for the trading of waste lithium batteries, which will help regulate the recycling channels of waste lithium batteries and achieve traceability of waste lithium batteries.

Secondly, establish standards to guide the healthy development of the industry. Shen Zuying, the head of the Three Electric Business Unit of Jiangling Group New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., and others suggested that national standards for the recyclability evaluation and value evaluation of waste lithium batteries should be formulated as soon as possible to lead the healthy development of the industry. Meng Dejiang stated that the application of waste lithium batteries has a wide range of industries, and specific industries can be identified first, and then specific standards can be formulated from the perspective of application to ensure more operability in implementation.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen regulatory efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the system. Liao Longjiang and others said that the design and original intention of the "whitelist" system are good, but the effective implementation of a good system requires the joint efforts of multiple departments. Ecological environment, market supervision, transportation and other departments should strengthen supervision, such as increasing the investigation and punishment of processing plants with incomplete qualifications, conducting regular inspections of lithium electric bicycle dealerships, socialized waste recycling points, and vehicles transporting waste lithium batteries, gradually guiding the development of the entire industry to be more standardized, professional and safe. Reporters Cui Lu, Huang Hexun

Source: Economic Reference Report