14
H. Roberts
a slowing in the pace of new car sales, China’s vehicle fleet is likely to exceed that
of the USA in the early years of the next decade. While creating a large market for
batteries fitted as original equipment, there is also now a very significant market for
replacement batteries which, in turn, generates a large volume of battery scrap.
Closing Comments and Outlook for Secondary Lead
Production
The global secondary lead industry has faced significant challenges over the past three
decades. These include the low price of lead for many of the first 15 years after 1990
and then, post the global financial crisis, the very high price of battery scrap in relation
to price of refined lead. There has been rapid growth in lead recycling capacity in
Asia, although much of this has been in China and dependent exclusively on domestic
scrap supplies, China has not permitted the import of battery scrap. However, there
has also been significant growth in secondary lead production elsewhere in Asia with
Korean operations expanding based on scrap imports and India, since April 2016,
also allowing some recyclers to import scrap to sustain their operations. On balance,
battery scrap imports from countries without viable recycling facilities can be seen
as positive as it limits the availability of scrap to very small-scale, informal recycling
activities with their attendant environmental issues. However, where battery scrap
is moving from countries with the highest environmental standards to areas of the
world where standards may not be as stringent or less rigorously enforced, this is
clearly an unsatisfactory situation.
Where lead–acid batteries are collected whole and recycled in today’s state-of-the
art recycling facilities the environmental impact is minimal with negligible emissions
of lead into either water or air. Secondary lead producers in North America and
Europe, accounting for around 36% of recycled lead output globally, are, for the
most part, already meeting very high standards for protecting the environment and the
health of their workers. China, producing more secondary lead than North America
and Europe combined, is now on the path to improving its environmental performance
although the legacy of past weak enforcement of regulations will take time to resolve.
And while there may be some good operators in other countries, there are still far
too many reports of smaller-scale, unregulated recycling activities which continue to
pose significant environmental risks. This remains a key challenge for the industry
and its related organisations.
Looking forward, the lead–acid battery industry is also facing challenges to its
near ubiquitous use in automobiles, e-bikes and e-trikes in China, and also as the
main choice for network and telecom backup power. Any market loss means slower
growth in battery scrap available for recycling and, eventually, a gradual contraction
in overall output.
H. Roberts
a slowing in the pace of new car sales, China’s vehicle fleet is likely to exceed that
of the USA in the early years of the next decade. While creating a large market for
batteries fitted as original equipment, there is also now a very significant market for
replacement batteries which, in turn, generates a large volume of battery scrap.
Closing Comments and Outlook for Secondary Lead
Production
The global secondary lead industry has faced significant challenges over the past three
decades. These include the low price of lead for many of the first 15 years after 1990
and then, post the global financial crisis, the very high price of battery scrap in relation
to price of refined lead. There has been rapid growth in lead recycling capacity in
Asia, although much of this has been in China and dependent exclusively on domestic
scrap supplies, China has not permitted the import of battery scrap. However, there
has also been significant growth in secondary lead production elsewhere in Asia with
Korean operations expanding based on scrap imports and India, since April 2016,
also allowing some recyclers to import scrap to sustain their operations. On balance,
battery scrap imports from countries without viable recycling facilities can be seen
as positive as it limits the availability of scrap to very small-scale, informal recycling
activities with their attendant environmental issues. However, where battery scrap
is moving from countries with the highest environmental standards to areas of the
world where standards may not be as stringent or less rigorously enforced, this is
clearly an unsatisfactory situation.
Where lead–acid batteries are collected whole and recycled in today’s state-of-the
art recycling facilities the environmental impact is minimal with negligible emissions
of lead into either water or air. Secondary lead producers in North America and
Europe, accounting for around 36% of recycled lead output globally, are, for the
most part, already meeting very high standards for protecting the environment and the
health of their workers. China, producing more secondary lead than North America
and Europe combined, is now on the path to improving its environmental performance
although the legacy of past weak enforcement of regulations will take time to resolve.
And while there may be some good operators in other countries, there are still far
too many reports of smaller-scale, unregulated recycling activities which continue to
pose significant environmental risks. This remains a key challenge for the industry
and its related organisations.
Looking forward, the lead–acid battery industry is also facing challenges to its
near ubiquitous use in automobiles, e-bikes and e-trikes in China, and also as the
main choice for network and telecom backup power. Any market loss means slower
growth in battery scrap available for recycling and, eventually, a gradual contraction
in overall output.