How Eco-friendly Are Lithium Batteries?: Battery Technology: Eco20/20

How Eco-friendly Are Lithium Batteries?

We use lithium batteries daily and for many of us they are indispensable, but what about their impact on the environment?

Lithium batteries fit into two broad categories, old-style lithium batteries which are non-rechargeable, and the nowadays popular rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are integrated in many electronic devices and are used on a large scale. They posses certain characteristics that differentiate them from other types of rechargeable batteries.

· Density: Lithium-ion batteries generally store more energy than other batteries with a similar size and weight.
· Voltage: Lithium-ion batteries operate at 3.7 volts while other types of batteries can handle only 1.2 volts.
· Discharge rate: They discharge at a slower rate than other rechargeable batteries. For instance, NiCd or NiMH batteries lose their charge gradually, every day, regardless if they are placed in a device or not. Lithium-ion batteries on the other hand maintain most of their charge when not in use.
Lithium batteries and the environment

In the United States alone it is estimated that around 3 billion lithium-ion batteries are sold every year. Considering that a lithium-ion battery lasts up to 500 full recharges, which amounts to two or three years of use at most, the number of discarded batteries that end up in landfills every year is colossal.

Lithium-ion batteries are generally not considered an environmental hazard because they do not contain lithium metal. The United States government labels them as non-hazardous waste and does not oppose them being discarded together with the trash that makes up the local waste stream.

On the other hand, standard lithium batteries are somewhat more hazardous because they contain toxic metals, including pure lithium, and recycling them is recommended.

In the European Union the regulations concerning the disposal of lithium-ion batteries are tighter than in the US and European citizens are advised to recycle their batteries. The UN believes lithium-ion batteries have a recycling value because of the materials they contain and, since the lack of landfill space is also an issue in some European countries, it considers that throwing them away is bad. For example, cobalt is one of the metals used in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries that can be recycled. It represents up to 13% of a battery's weight.

In the near future

What prevents mass recycling of lithium-ion batteries is a matter of economics. A ton of out-of-use lithium-ion batteries amount to about $100, which is at the moment simply not enough to justify recycling at a large scale. Collecting old batteries, sorting them, and delivering them to special recycling spots requires sums that exceed their scrap value.

However, efforts to promote the recycling of lithium-ion batteries do exist. The EU has a regulation that forces vendors to recycle at least 25% of the batteries they manufacture and sell, including lithium-ion batteries. So even though the environmental hazard of these batteries is not alarming enough to force urgent action on part of governments, recycling is preferred to careless disposal. In the near future, as recycling will become less costly and more accessible, more decisive steps are bound to be taken.