Current status and solutions for recovery of lead-acid batteries

The lead-acid battery industry has gradually developed from a low-end industry with small scale and backward manufacturing technology to a large industry with a total output value of 150 billion Yuan. The mismatch is that lead-acid batteries have also triggered a series of environmental pollution incidents.

It is understood that the number of waste lead-acid batteries produced in China each year exceeds 2.6 million tons, while the lead content of general lead-acid batteries is about 70%-80%. Since China has not yet established a recycling network that enterprises live in, Most of the recycling is based on individual traders. Therefore, nearly 80% of the waste lead-acid batteries are in the process of illegal recycling and disposal through individual traders. This is one of the root causes of lead pollution, and with the development of the battery industry in recent years, relevant the recycling industry also showed a good profit prospect, and the lag of related policies led to the disordered development of the lead-acid battery recycling industry.

Establish lead-acid battery recycling specifications and recycling system

It is understood that many developed countries have established a relatively complete recycling system for waste lead-acid batteries, which are roughly divided into three main ways:

1. The battery manufacturer is responsible for organizing recycling through its retail network;

2. Compulsory alliances for the collection of lead storage batteries and lead-containing wastes approved in accordance with government regulations (including the government's industrial sector, environmental protection departments and battery production, sales to collection, recycling and lead secondary production cycle) and professional Recycling company;

Third, the recycling lead company establishes a specific waste lead-acid battery recycling company.

The waste lead-acid batteries recovered by the above three routes are uniformly disposed of by the regular recycled lead enterprises, and the government gives the recycled lead enterprises a certain waste battery treatment subsidy fee.

At present, there are four major challenges in the recovery management of lead-acid batteries in China:

First, a large number of illegal entities exist in the market, and the subject of qualification recovery lacks price competitive advantage.

Second, there is no normative requirement for the responsibility of producers, sellers, users and recyclers in the whole system, and the formal system is difficult to establish.

Third, the market entry threshold is high. The Measures for the Administration of Hazardous Waste Management Licenses and the Technical Specifications for Pollution Control of Waste Lead storage batteries stipulate that units with comprehensive hazardous waste operation licenses can engage in business activities such as collection, storage and disposal of waste lead storage batteries. Due to the high application threshold for hazardous waste comprehensive business licenses, many enterprises or individuals are difficult to meet the requirements. It is understood that there are currently no more than five companies in China that have professional qualifications for recycling lead-acid batteries.

Fourth, multi-sector joint supervision is more difficult. A number of government agencies involved in the recycling of waste lead-acid batteries. It’s difficult to achieve by the environmental protection department alone.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.