Global Secondary Battery Recycling Market Growth (Status and Outlook) 2025-2031
Description
According to this study, the global Secondary Battery Recycling market size will reach US$ 1299 million by 2031.
Battery recycling is a process that helps reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Secondary batteries should be disposed properly, as they comprise several heavy metals and toxic chemicals.Secondary battery recycling refers to the process of resource processing of waste lithium-ion batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries and other rechargeable batteries, aiming to extract valuable metals (such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel), reduce environmental pollution, and promote the development of a circular economy.
A key factor driving the growth of the market is the self-sustainability of battery raw materials. Sourcing from other countries, developing domestic sourcing, or by promoting the recycling used batteries are the three ways to ensure supply of critical raw materials for manufacturing batteries in any country. The reserves for raw materials required for manufacturing secondary batteries such as natural graphite, manganese, and nickel are highly concentrated in few countries.
The driving factors of the secondary battery recycling market mainly include:
1. Policies and regulations: mandatory regulations and incentives in parallel
Global environmental protection policies are tightened
EU "New Battery Law": requires that the proportion of recycled materials in power batteries reach 12% (cobalt, lithium, nickel) from 2030, and compulsorily disclose carbon footprints, forcing companies to layout the recycling industry chain.
China's "white list" system: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Industry Standard Conditions for Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles" to regulate enterprise access and promote the concentration of the industry.
US IRA Act: Provide tax credits to battery companies using recycled materials to stimulate the expansion of local recycling capacity.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Battery manufacturers need to assume recycling responsibilities, such as Tesla and CATL, which lock in recycling capacity through joint ventures or signing long-term contracts to reduce compliance risks.
2. Economic factors: cost optimization and resource security
Raw material price fluctuations
Cobalt prices fluctuate by more than 50%, and lithium prices fluctuate periodically. Companies can reduce their dependence on primary minerals and stabilize supply chain costs through recycling.
Case: GEM has achieved a cobalt self-sufficiency rate of more than 50% through recycling, and its risk resistance has been significantly improved.
The economic benefits of cascade utilization are highlighted
After the capacity of retired power batteries decays to 80%, they can be used in energy storage, low-speed vehicles and other fields, and the cost is only 30%-50% of new batteries.
3. Technological progress: efficiency improvement and boundary expansion
Recycling technology iteration
Hydrometallurgy: The recovery rate of cobalt and lithium exceeds 95%, and representative companies include Umicore and Brunp Cycle.
Direct regeneration technology: repair electrode material performance and reduce energy consumption by 30%.
AI sorting: improve sorting accuracy to 99% through spectral analysis, and reduce labor costs.
Cross-border technology integration
Blockchain traceability: build a data chain for the entire life cycle of batteries to improve recycling transparency.
Hydrogen energy coupling: use the waste liquid generated by recycling for hydrogen production to achieve a "zero emission" closed loop.
4. Environmental awareness: social consensus under the goal of carbon neutrality
Enterprise ESG pressure
Apple, BMW and other companies have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in 2030, and battery recycling has become a key carbon reduction path.
Carbon trading benefits: recycling 1 ton of power batteries can reduce emissions by about 3 tons of CO₂, and companies increase profits through carbon credit trading.
Changes in consumer preferences
Surveys show that 65% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for "environmentally friendly batteries", which will drive companies to accelerate the layout of the recycling industry chain.
V. Market demand: explosive growth and structural upgrades
Power battery retirement wave
The global power battery retirement volume is expected to reach 100GWh in 2025 and exceed 800GWh in 2030, and the recycling market size will exceed 100 billion.
Regional differences: Due to the early promotion of new energy, China's retirement volume in 2025 accounted for 40% of the world; with the popularization of electric vehicles in Europe, the growth rate will reach 35% in 2030.
Energy storage market pull
The demand for retired batteries in the fields of grid peak regulation and household energy storage has surged, and it is estimated that the proportion of recycled batteries for energy storage will reach 20% in 2030.
VI. Industry chain collaboration: closed-loop ecological construction"Mine-battery factory-car company-recycling company" alliance
Case: CATL cooperates with GEM, Toyota and Redwood Materials to achieve a "production-recycling-regeneration" closed loop.
Data: The alliance model can reduce battery costs by 10%-15% and increase resource utilization by more than 30%.
Emerging business models
Battery leasing: NIO launched the BaaS service, where users only purchase the right to use the battery, which will be recycled by the company after retirement.
VII. Challenges and coping strategies
Lack of technical standardization
Countermeasures: The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued battery recycling standards, and China promoted the implementation of the national standard "Technical Specifications for Waste Battery Recycling".
Impact of small workshops
Countermeasures: The government increased subsidies for "white list" companies and squeezed the living space of informal channels through tax incentives.
The explosion of the secondary battery recycling market is the result of the synergistic resonance of policies, economy, technology, environment and industrial chain.
LPI (LP Information)' newest research report, the “Secondary Battery Recycling Industry Forecast” looks at past sales and reviews total world Secondary Battery Recycling sales in 2024, providing a comprehensive analysis by region and market sector of projected Secondary Battery Recycling sales for 2025 through 2031. With Secondary Battery Recycling sales broken down by region, market sector and sub-sector, this report provides a detailed analysis in US$ millions of the world Secondary Battery Recycling industry.
This Insight Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global Secondary Battery Recycling landscape and highlights key trends related to product segmentation, company formation, revenue, and market share, latest development, and M&A activity. This report also analyses the strategies of leading global companies with a focus on Secondary Battery Recycling portfolios and capabilities, market entry strategies, market positions, and geographic footprints, to better understand these firms’ unique position in an accelerating global Secondary Battery Recycling market.
This Insight Report evaluates the key market trends, drivers, and affecting factors shaping the global outlook for Secondary Battery Recycling and breaks down the forecast by Type, by Application, geography, and market size to highlight emerging pockets of opportunity. With a transparent methodology based on hundreds of bottom-up qualitative and quantitative market inputs, this study forecast offers a highly nuanced view of the current state and future trajectory in the global Secondary Battery Recycling.
This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of Secondary Battery Recycling market by product type, application, key players and key regions and countries.
Segmentation by Type:
Lead-acid
Lithium-ion
Others
Segmentation by Application:
Car Battery
Motorcycle Battery
Other
This report also splits the market by region:
Americas
United States
Canada
Mexico
Brazil
APAC
China
Japan
Korea
Southeast Asia
India
Australia
Europe
Germany
France
UK
Italy
Russia
Middle East & Africa
Egypt
South Africa
Israel
Turkey
GCC Countries
The below companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzing the company's coverage, product portfolio, its market penetration.
Aceleron
Northvolt
Exide Technologies
Umicore
Redwood Materials
Li-Cycle
Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology
GEM
ACE Green Recycling
Ganfeng Lithium
Please note: The report will take approximately 2 business days to prepare and deliver.
Battery recycling is a process that helps reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Secondary batteries should be disposed properly, as they comprise several heavy metals and toxic chemicals.Secondary battery recycling refers to the process of resource processing of waste lithium-ion batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries and other rechargeable batteries, aiming to extract valuable metals (such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel), reduce environmental pollution, and promote the development of a circular economy.
A key factor driving the growth of the market is the self-sustainability of battery raw materials. Sourcing from other countries, developing domestic sourcing, or by promoting the recycling used batteries are the three ways to ensure supply of critical raw materials for manufacturing batteries in any country. The reserves for raw materials required for manufacturing secondary batteries such as natural graphite, manganese, and nickel are highly concentrated in few countries.
The driving factors of the secondary battery recycling market mainly include:
1. Policies and regulations: mandatory regulations and incentives in parallel
Global environmental protection policies are tightened
EU "New Battery Law": requires that the proportion of recycled materials in power batteries reach 12% (cobalt, lithium, nickel) from 2030, and compulsorily disclose carbon footprints, forcing companies to layout the recycling industry chain.
China's "white list" system: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Industry Standard Conditions for Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles" to regulate enterprise access and promote the concentration of the industry.
US IRA Act: Provide tax credits to battery companies using recycled materials to stimulate the expansion of local recycling capacity.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Battery manufacturers need to assume recycling responsibilities, such as Tesla and CATL, which lock in recycling capacity through joint ventures or signing long-term contracts to reduce compliance risks.
2. Economic factors: cost optimization and resource security
Raw material price fluctuations
Cobalt prices fluctuate by more than 50%, and lithium prices fluctuate periodically. Companies can reduce their dependence on primary minerals and stabilize supply chain costs through recycling.
Case: GEM has achieved a cobalt self-sufficiency rate of more than 50% through recycling, and its risk resistance has been significantly improved.
The economic benefits of cascade utilization are highlighted
After the capacity of retired power batteries decays to 80%, they can be used in energy storage, low-speed vehicles and other fields, and the cost is only 30%-50% of new batteries.
3. Technological progress: efficiency improvement and boundary expansion
Recycling technology iteration
Hydrometallurgy: The recovery rate of cobalt and lithium exceeds 95%, and representative companies include Umicore and Brunp Cycle.
Direct regeneration technology: repair electrode material performance and reduce energy consumption by 30%.
AI sorting: improve sorting accuracy to 99% through spectral analysis, and reduce labor costs.
Cross-border technology integration
Blockchain traceability: build a data chain for the entire life cycle of batteries to improve recycling transparency.
Hydrogen energy coupling: use the waste liquid generated by recycling for hydrogen production to achieve a "zero emission" closed loop.
4. Environmental awareness: social consensus under the goal of carbon neutrality
Enterprise ESG pressure
Apple, BMW and other companies have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality in 2030, and battery recycling has become a key carbon reduction path.
Carbon trading benefits: recycling 1 ton of power batteries can reduce emissions by about 3 tons of CO₂, and companies increase profits through carbon credit trading.
Changes in consumer preferences
Surveys show that 65% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for "environmentally friendly batteries", which will drive companies to accelerate the layout of the recycling industry chain.
V. Market demand: explosive growth and structural upgrades
Power battery retirement wave
The global power battery retirement volume is expected to reach 100GWh in 2025 and exceed 800GWh in 2030, and the recycling market size will exceed 100 billion.
Regional differences: Due to the early promotion of new energy, China's retirement volume in 2025 accounted for 40% of the world; with the popularization of electric vehicles in Europe, the growth rate will reach 35% in 2030.
Energy storage market pull
The demand for retired batteries in the fields of grid peak regulation and household energy storage has surged, and it is estimated that the proportion of recycled batteries for energy storage will reach 20% in 2030.
VI. Industry chain collaboration: closed-loop ecological construction"Mine-battery factory-car company-recycling company" alliance
Case: CATL cooperates with GEM, Toyota and Redwood Materials to achieve a "production-recycling-regeneration" closed loop.
Data: The alliance model can reduce battery costs by 10%-15% and increase resource utilization by more than 30%.
Emerging business models
Battery leasing: NIO launched the BaaS service, where users only purchase the right to use the battery, which will be recycled by the company after retirement.
VII. Challenges and coping strategies
Lack of technical standardization
Countermeasures: The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued battery recycling standards, and China promoted the implementation of the national standard "Technical Specifications for Waste Battery Recycling".
Impact of small workshops
Countermeasures: The government increased subsidies for "white list" companies and squeezed the living space of informal channels through tax incentives.
The explosion of the secondary battery recycling market is the result of the synergistic resonance of policies, economy, technology, environment and industrial chain.
LPI (LP Information)' newest research report, the “Secondary Battery Recycling Industry Forecast” looks at past sales and reviews total world Secondary Battery Recycling sales in 2024, providing a comprehensive analysis by region and market sector of projected Secondary Battery Recycling sales for 2025 through 2031. With Secondary Battery Recycling sales broken down by region, market sector and sub-sector, this report provides a detailed analysis in US$ millions of the world Secondary Battery Recycling industry.
This Insight Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global Secondary Battery Recycling landscape and highlights key trends related to product segmentation, company formation, revenue, and market share, latest development, and M&A activity. This report also analyses the strategies of leading global companies with a focus on Secondary Battery Recycling portfolios and capabilities, market entry strategies, market positions, and geographic footprints, to better understand these firms’ unique position in an accelerating global Secondary Battery Recycling market.
This Insight Report evaluates the key market trends, drivers, and affecting factors shaping the global outlook for Secondary Battery Recycling and breaks down the forecast by Type, by Application, geography, and market size to highlight emerging pockets of opportunity. With a transparent methodology based on hundreds of bottom-up qualitative and quantitative market inputs, this study forecast offers a highly nuanced view of the current state and future trajectory in the global Secondary Battery Recycling.
This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of Secondary Battery Recycling market by product type, application, key players and key regions and countries.
Segmentation by Type:
Lead-acid
Lithium-ion
Others
Segmentation by Application:
Car Battery
Motorcycle Battery
Other
This report also splits the market by region:
Americas
United States
Canada
Mexico
Brazil
APAC
China
Japan
Korea
Southeast Asia
India
Australia
Europe
Germany
France
UK
Italy
Russia
Middle East & Africa
Egypt
South Africa
Israel
Turkey
GCC Countries
The below companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzing the company's coverage, product portfolio, its market penetration.
Aceleron
Northvolt
Exide Technologies
Umicore
Redwood Materials
Li-Cycle
Hunan Brunp Recycling Technology
GEM
ACE Green Recycling
Ganfeng Lithium
Please note: The report will take approximately 2 business days to prepare and deliver.
Table of Contents
88 Pages
- *This is a tentative TOC and the final deliverable is subject to change.*
- 1 Scope of the Report
- 2 Executive Summary
- 3 Secondary Battery Recycling Market Size by Player
- 4 Secondary Battery Recycling by Region
- 5 Americas
- 6 APAC
- 7 Europe
- 8 Middle East & Africa
- 9 Market Drivers, Challenges and Trends
- 10 Global Secondary Battery Recycling Market Forecast
- 11 Key Players Analysis
- 12 Research Findings and Conclusion
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