Managing industrial batteries is highly complex due to the combination of numerous global, regional, and local regulations, along with the variety of available battery chemistries, form factors, and use cases. This complexity makes it extremely difficult to find recycling or repurposing solutions that are both compliant with regulations and cost-effective.
In addition to direct costs related to the decommissioning process itself, each end-of-life project requires a high level of expertise and significant expenditures in the form of labor hours, which translates into monetary costs.
- Understanding the applicable regulatory framework could take an expert several days, as multiple aspects must be understood. As an example, for the US market these include:
- Lithium ion batteries are hazardous materials
- Title 49, Subchapter C, of the U.S. Code of Regulations (49 CFR) governs the transportation of hazardous materials, among other regulations
- Batteries destined for recycling are considered waste and therefore subject to an additional set of regulations
- 40 CFR Parts 262-280 deal with hazardous waste
- States may have implemented more stringent regulations on batteries/hazardous waste than the federal government
- Researching logistics providers, preparing and sending out requests for quotes (RFQs), reviewing proposals, and contracting with the best suppliers is time-consuming
- Researching recyclers, preparing and sending out RFQs, reviewing proposals, and contracting with the best recycler is tedious
- Coordinating the timing with other related activities such as craning, dismantling, and scrapping battery enclosures, fire suppression, and HVAC equipment disposal takes a lot of time, effort, and labor
- Coordinating among parties and project management requires complex scheduling that may be time-consuming