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Want Clean Energy? Then You Also Want Battery Recycling.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Increasing the reuse and recycling of batteries at their end of life is essential to increasing the sustainability of batteries and creating a circular economy. Recycling must ramp up. There are huge opportunities for recycling to decrease the need for newly mined materials in batteries. Source: Courtesy of Li-Cycle.

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Are EV Batteries Recyclable?

Union of Concerned Scientists

Luckily, lithium-ion battery recycling research and development has been going on for years and there is an existing and growing repurposing and recycling system in North America for these components. Current lithium-ion battery collection, repurposing, and recycling network in North America. Slattery et al.

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Solar Panels Should Be Reused and Recycled. Here’s How.

Union of Concerned Scientists

It is more like a straight line from silica mine, to refining factory, to shimmering batch of shining polysilicon ingots, to panel assembly , to a couple decades generating clean electricity—and then, far too often, to a landfill. Among those that are recycled, very few have 100% of their material recovered.

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Guiding Principles for EV Battery Recycling Policy

Union of Concerned Scientists

Essentially, the materials recovered through battery recycling can replace future material supply that would otherwise need to be extracted from the earth to meet demand. Estimates show that in 2050, the United States can meet about half of EV demand for cobalt and nickel and a quarter of lithium with minerals recovered through recycling.

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What can we learn from EU’s battery regulation?

Legal Planet

This regulation is designed to reduce the carbon footprint of batteries, limit the use of hazardous materials, decrease reliance on raw materials from outside the EU, and promote high rates of collection, reuse, and recycling. The current battery supply chain faces several pressing challenges.

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What Happens to Wind Turbine Blades at the End of Their Life Cycle?

Union of Concerned Scientists

While today’s carbon fiber and fiberglass require lots of energ y to produce and are hard to recycle , incorporating more bio-materials into their composites and developing new recycling technologies can reduce their footprint. Can wind turbine blades be recycled? The company aims to make all its blades fully recyclable by 2030.

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Just and Sustainable Solutions for the Mining and Recycling of Rare Earth Elements in Wind Turbines

Union of Concerned Scientists

The wind is in our sails on the voyage towards a clean energy future. Wind energy is currently the largest renewable energy source in the US, and the industry is growing fast. Recycling rare earth elements. Many governments, the mining industry, and renewable energy companies are committed to tackling it.

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