A new study in Nature Sustainability presents a framework for optimizing end-of-life battery recycling by aligning recycling plant locations with battery retirement hotspots. Using China as a case study, the researchers analyzed over 300 recycling projects across 364 cities and 24 battery chemistries. They found that interprovincial coordination could boost treatment capacity utilization by 67 percent, but still cannot fully fix the spatial mismatch between where batteries retire and where recycling capacity exists. The study projects 16.67 to 19.99 million tonnes of end-of-life batteries in China between 2020 and 2030, with retirement hotspots shifting from northeast to southwest to northwest. Under optimized supply-demand planning, the authors estimate emissions could drop by up to 44 percent and lithium recovery could increase by 53 percent. The paper provides a data-driven tool for designing low-carbon, high-efficiency battery recycling systems that support the circular economy.
