The cobalt that buffers the material against the ravages of daily recharging probably came from the\u00a0Democratic Republic of the Congo<\/em>, where children have allegedly been maimed and killed extracting it from the ground. To gather the assorted atoms and fashion them into a working battery may have required thousands of people from perhaps a dozen countries. Then, after a few years of use, spent As lithium-ion batteries<\/strong> stand poised to jump from handheld devices into cars, trucks<\/strong>\u00a0and homes<\/strong>, entrepreneurs and academics<\/strong> are racing to find a way to reuse the hard-won materials. Investors are betting millions that a Nevada company, Redwood Materials, can mine electronic waste for metals. A competitor, Li-Cycle<\/strong>, aims to crack the logistical puzzle<\/strong> of transporting batteries. Others are developing the technology to rejuvenate dead batteries<\/strong> without breaking them down fully. By attacking the problem on all fronts, the teams work toward one goal: transforming exhausted batteries into a valuable resource.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re spending all of this money making batteries, making chemicals, and then we\u2019re burning them at the end of the cycle,\u201d says Tim Johnston<\/strong>, Li-Cycle<\/strong> co-founder and executive chairman. \u201cThat\u2019s not right.\u201d<\/p>\n Industry insiders speak with excitement and trepidation of a looming battery \u201ctsunami.\u201d Globally people already toss out more than 500,000 tons<\/strong> of lithium batteries<\/strong> today, according to Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle co-founder and president, mostly in the form of small electronics. But as the world transitions to an electric economy, its appetite for lithium-ion bricks is\u00a0projected to increase tenfold by 2030<\/strong>. Most of that explosion will be driven by electric vehicles<\/strong>, which carry batteries weighing<\/strong> more than 1,000 pounds<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019re at the tip of the iceberg,\u201d Kochhar says.<\/p>\n Kochhar<\/strong> and others<\/strong> see that problem as an opportunity to replace today\u2019s fragile<\/strong> and problematic supply chain<\/strong> with a more \u201ccircular\u201d system<\/strong>, one that builds the next generation of batteries from the materials of the last generation. And they won\u2019t be recycling just for the sake of recycling. The market for recycling lithium-ion batteries alone could be worth $18 billion<\/strong> annually by 2030<\/strong>,\u00a0Statista estimates<\/strong>, up from $1.5 billion in 2019.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enerjigazetesi.ist\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/amazon-panasonic-ve-geri-donusum-girisimleri-ve-batarya-sektoru.jpg\")
devices often end up in landfills and incinerators.<\/p>\n