Recently, the United States Department of Energy announced that it will fund 1,000 battery recycling points across the United States that can not only recycle batteries, but also smartphones and other electronic devices that no longer have a resale or replacement value.
Currently, it is very troublesome for consumers to deal with consumer electronics after they lose their use value. Most household waste and recycling systems do not accept such products due to fire hazards. While Apple stores already allow you to recycle old smartphones, whether iPhone or Android, not everyone has easy access to them.
The Biden administration announced a $14 million (note: about 102 million yuan currently) program this month to fund other retailers to recycle batteries and electronic devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, laptops and vacuum cleaners. The ultimate goal of the program is to process the equipment so that the rare elements contained in it can be recovered for use in United States manufacturing.
Battery recovery is a problem
Improper handling of batteries is not just an environmental issue, the United States Department of Energy also views it as an economic issue. Many rechargeable batteries contain materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and manganese, which are key materials needed for clean energy technologies, including wind turbines and electric vehicles. As EV sales in the United States grow, the demand for these materials will further increase.
United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in an interview with Wired: "So far, China has basically monopolized the market in terms of processing and extracting these materials. We want to establish multiple access to these critical materials in the United States, and recycling is one of them. She also added that United States' current battery recycling capacity "."
These recycling points will be set up at easy-to-find Staples and Battery Plus stores throughout the United States. However, experts point out that the government needs to fund not only the collection, but also the processing, as these materials are currently recycled.
Article source: development and recycling of new energy and new materials
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