Battery recycling could cut US import reliance

Battery recycling in the US could cut the nation’s reliance on imported critical materials within a specific timeframe, according to a recent government filing. The federal watchdog, which performs independent, nonpartisan research for Congress, found that extracting minerals from used batteries for reuse is a mature technology that could meaningfully reduce import dependence in the near term. The outlook for semiconductors, however, is considerably less optimistic.

The filing focuses on substitution and recycling technologies across the battery and semiconductor industries. It concludes that battery recycling, specifically recovering copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel from spent cells, could reduce imports in as little as 36 months. The technologies themselves are mature and ready for wider deployment.

That is the good news. The catch is capacity. US battery recyclers currently lack the infrastructure to process materials at a scale that would make a real dent in import volumes. Building that capacity would require deliberate investment and policy support, which is one of the main challenges the watchdog flags for lawmakers.

There is also the question of which batteries get recycled and how they are used. The document points to lithium iron phosphate batteries as a promising substitute for grid energy storage, since they reduce reliance on imported cobalt, manganese and nickel. These batteries do not perform as well in electric vehicles due to lower energy density, and lithium-free alternatives are not commercially mature yet.

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For semiconductors, the federal researchers are far less upbeat. Substitution is unlikely to have any near-term effect on import reliance for minerals like gallium and indium, because other materials simply do not perform as well under the same conditions. Recycling technologies for semiconductor minerals are also underdeveloped, and using manufacturing scrap is not standard practice in the US.

The document notes that recycling discarded electronics is only in pilot-stage development, largely because the minerals are bonded with other materials and hard to extract cleanly. An underdeveloped market for recycled semiconductor materials compounds the problem. The technology exists in fragments, but it is years away from being viable at scale.

The central point is that supply chains for critical minerals are vulnerable to disruption, and the US relies heavily on imports for many of them. The researchers do not sugarcoat the gap between what is technically possible and what is actually deployed.

To address these vulnerabilities, the watchdog lays out four options for policymakers. The first is establishing domestic manufacturing capacity for viable substitutes, which could involve building or repurposing existing plants to produce substitute technologies for batteries and semiconductors. The second is building out domestic recycling infrastructure to bolster capacity for both industries.

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The third option is securing inputs for recycling, meaning support for collecting, sorting, transporting and storing manufacturing scrap and end-of-life devices. The fourth is backing research, development and testing of substitution and recycling technologies. Policymakers could also pursue non-technological approaches, such as greater domestic mining.

None of these options is a quick fix. The filing is careful to distinguish between what is achievable in the next few years and what remains speculative. The semiconductor industry, in particular, is likely to remain dependent on imports for some time, no matter which policy levers are pulled.

For batteries, the window is shorter but not automatic. The technology is there, the minerals are recoverable, and the demand is growing. Whether the US can build the recycling capacity to match that demand within the previously mentioned timeframe is another matter. The government filing suggests it is possible, but only if the right investments are made now.