Evolution of Global Secondary Lead Production
11
Fig. 4 Korean imports of lead–acid battery scrap
recycling operations, importers of scrapped batteries are making recycling facilities
uneconomic in countries where environmental standards are very high.
In order to better regulate the recycling of scrapped lead–acid batteries and to
protect its domestic industry, Japan has moved to ban the export of battery scrap
to Korea with shipments falling to near zero in 2019. Secondary lead producers in
the USA are considering what steps their government could take to provide some
protection from foreign buyers of battery scrap.
Secondary Lead Production in China
It is very clear from Figs. 1 and 2 that the greatest changes in secondary lead production since 2005, at least in terms of volume, have been in China. That there are
different estimates for secondary lead production in China was discussed earlier,
but CHR Metals believes that the actual recycling rate of used lead–acid batteries is
significantly higher than is implied by official data. This belief stems from extensive
research on the ground which identified as early as 2002 that a well organised system for collecting and recycling batteries existed in China. Moreover, batteries were
being recycled even though, at this early date, prices for lead were exceptionally low.
The problem for those collating official data is that much of the recycling activity
in China has, until very recently, been in the unregulated and informal sector. This
allowed often small-scale operators to continue using outmoded and environmentally
unsound methods of used battery storage, collection, breaking, and processing even
as China’s output grew from around 5% of global secondary lead production in
the early 1990s, to 17% by 2005, a little over 30% by 2010 and 40% by 2015. The
overall scale of the industry in recent years, with estimated secondary output of 4.2 Mt
11
Fig. 4 Korean imports of lead–acid battery scrap
recycling operations, importers of scrapped batteries are making recycling facilities
uneconomic in countries where environmental standards are very high.
In order to better regulate the recycling of scrapped lead–acid batteries and to
protect its domestic industry, Japan has moved to ban the export of battery scrap
to Korea with shipments falling to near zero in 2019. Secondary lead producers in
the USA are considering what steps their government could take to provide some
protection from foreign buyers of battery scrap.
Secondary Lead Production in China
It is very clear from Figs. 1 and 2 that the greatest changes in secondary lead production since 2005, at least in terms of volume, have been in China. That there are
different estimates for secondary lead production in China was discussed earlier,
but CHR Metals believes that the actual recycling rate of used lead–acid batteries is
significantly higher than is implied by official data. This belief stems from extensive
research on the ground which identified as early as 2002 that a well organised system for collecting and recycling batteries existed in China. Moreover, batteries were
being recycled even though, at this early date, prices for lead were exceptionally low.
The problem for those collating official data is that much of the recycling activity
in China has, until very recently, been in the unregulated and informal sector. This
allowed often small-scale operators to continue using outmoded and environmentally
unsound methods of used battery storage, collection, breaking, and processing even
as China’s output grew from around 5% of global secondary lead production in
the early 1990s, to 17% by 2005, a little over 30% by 2010 and 40% by 2015. The
overall scale of the industry in recent years, with estimated secondary output of 4.2 Mt