Evolution of Global Secondary Lead Production
7
from recycling scrapped lead–acid batteries. The ILZSG reports secondary lead production of 2.74 Mt in 1990, a difference of only 5% compared with CHR Metals’
estimate.
While most major economies banned the disposal of used lead–acid batteries in
landfill during the course of the 1970s and 1980s, it was not until the late 1980s and
early 1990s that legislation began to be introduced to set out clearly how scrapped
batteries were to be collected and recycled. In the USA, many states published regulations which relied on deposit schemes or mandated that battery manufacturers
should be responsible for recycling their products at the end of their useful lives.
In Europe, government supported schemes were established in Italy (Cobat) and in
Scandinavia (Returbat) and in Japan, battery makers agreed to support a domestic
recycling industry by sponsoring the free collection of scrap batteries and delivery
to authorised recycling facilities.
From today’s perspective, when used lead–acid batteries are being swept up by
traders and sometimes shipped halfway around the world for recycling, it may seem
odd that there was ever a need for official intervention in the lead–acid battery
recycling business. However, that is to forget how the economics of the industry
have changed over time. In particular, it is the case that through much of the 1980s
and certainly in the 1990s and through to the mid-2000s, recycling a used lead–
acid battery, defined in law as a hazardous waste requiring careful handling and
processing, returned a negative value if all the proper procedures and environmental
regulations were followed. And the costs of meeting ever-stricter environmental
standards were also increasing sharply through this period.
With a ban on dumping scrap batteries, but little economic incentive to recycle
batteries unless subsidised by a deposit scheme, a government funded organisation or
battery manufacturers who were under a legal obligation to take back used batteries
and ensure their safe recycling, it is little wonder that there was some accumulation
of scrapped batteries in motor service centre yards and domestic garages in this
earlier period. In many smaller developing economies where there were relatively
few batteries to be recycled in the first instance, scrapped batteries may simply have
been broken for the recovery of metallic lead which will then have been remelted,
perhaps to be used as fishing weights. Battery cases may have found a second life
when filled with earth or concrete and used in retaining walls or other construction.
The battery paste is likely to have been dumped.
Figure 1 above charts the increase in secondary lead production through dedicated recycling facilities. In other words, secondary lead-bearing materials processed
through so-called primary smelters are not included in the totals shown. CHR Metals estimates that from 2.6 Mt in 1990, with over three quarters accounted for by
production in Europe and North America, recycled lead output increased to 4.1 Mt
by 2005 with the mature economies of Europe and North America then accounting
for just under 60% of the total. This suggests a transformation in the geographical
pattern of output being underway.
Another development was also underway. CHR Metals estimates that, in 1990,
of the 3 Mt of production from primary lead smelters, which accounted for 54%
of total refined lead output at that time, no more than 10% derived from secondary
7
from recycling scrapped lead–acid batteries. The ILZSG reports secondary lead production of 2.74 Mt in 1990, a difference of only 5% compared with CHR Metals’
estimate.
While most major economies banned the disposal of used lead–acid batteries in
landfill during the course of the 1970s and 1980s, it was not until the late 1980s and
early 1990s that legislation began to be introduced to set out clearly how scrapped
batteries were to be collected and recycled. In the USA, many states published regulations which relied on deposit schemes or mandated that battery manufacturers
should be responsible for recycling their products at the end of their useful lives.
In Europe, government supported schemes were established in Italy (Cobat) and in
Scandinavia (Returbat) and in Japan, battery makers agreed to support a domestic
recycling industry by sponsoring the free collection of scrap batteries and delivery
to authorised recycling facilities.
From today’s perspective, when used lead–acid batteries are being swept up by
traders and sometimes shipped halfway around the world for recycling, it may seem
odd that there was ever a need for official intervention in the lead–acid battery
recycling business. However, that is to forget how the economics of the industry
have changed over time. In particular, it is the case that through much of the 1980s
and certainly in the 1990s and through to the mid-2000s, recycling a used lead–
acid battery, defined in law as a hazardous waste requiring careful handling and
processing, returned a negative value if all the proper procedures and environmental
regulations were followed. And the costs of meeting ever-stricter environmental
standards were also increasing sharply through this period.
With a ban on dumping scrap batteries, but little economic incentive to recycle
batteries unless subsidised by a deposit scheme, a government funded organisation or
battery manufacturers who were under a legal obligation to take back used batteries
and ensure their safe recycling, it is little wonder that there was some accumulation
of scrapped batteries in motor service centre yards and domestic garages in this
earlier period. In many smaller developing economies where there were relatively
few batteries to be recycled in the first instance, scrapped batteries may simply have
been broken for the recovery of metallic lead which will then have been remelted,
perhaps to be used as fishing weights. Battery cases may have found a second life
when filled with earth or concrete and used in retaining walls or other construction.
The battery paste is likely to have been dumped.
Figure 1 above charts the increase in secondary lead production through dedicated recycling facilities. In other words, secondary lead-bearing materials processed
through so-called primary smelters are not included in the totals shown. CHR Metals estimates that from 2.6 Mt in 1990, with over three quarters accounted for by
production in Europe and North America, recycled lead output increased to 4.1 Mt
by 2005 with the mature economies of Europe and North America then accounting
for just under 60% of the total. This suggests a transformation in the geographical
pattern of output being underway.
Another development was also underway. CHR Metals estimates that, in 1990,
of the 3 Mt of production from primary lead smelters, which accounted for 54%
of total refined lead output at that time, no more than 10% derived from secondary