Responsible Secondary Cobalt

Cobalt is in the batteries that power our devices and increasingly in the transportation we use, and so the amount of cobalt we need is increasing.

Thankfully, cobalt is infinitely recyclable, meaning when these batteries reach the end of their life the cobalt can be recovered, enabling a circular economy. However, today much of this end-of-life cobalt is not recovered and represents the loss of a strategic source of a critical raw material that is essential to the energy transition.

Currently, most recycled cobalt on the global market comes from battery manufacturing scrap and presents relatively fewer risks of improper disposal. At the same time, there exist secondary cobalt feedstocks that are currently not recycled, or at risk of being lost for recycling.

In the immediate term, spent lithium-ion batteries in portable electronics represent the greatest source of wasted cobalt globally. In the coming decade spent electric vehicle (EV) batteries will become the largest source of secondary cobalt globally, as increasing numbers of vehicles reach their end of life, resulting in significant volumes of material that will need to be managed.

Policy-makers can rise to this challenge in a number of ways: 

Streamline rules governing international trade in secondary cobalt

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Set up framework conditions for local recycling capacity and export

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Mandate extended, or ultimate, producer responsibility

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Harmonise waste classification

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Streamline rules governing international trade in secondary cobalt

A major barrier to global trade in secondary feedstocks is the lack of harmonised customs rules between different countries. The rules that govern this trade, especially between key end-of-life localities, such as West Africa, and countries with high recycling capacities, can be streamlined to help build a global circular cobalt economy.

This can be done by supporting the transparency and fluidity of global secondary cobalt flows by advocating for the development of new trade codes related to secondary cobalt. Using battery passports to improve the traceability of secondary cobalt flows could also aid in the construction of a sustainable and responsible secondary cobalt economy.

Set up framework conditions for local recycling capacity and export

Countries with large informal e-waste recycling sectors have a key role to play in the coming decade, but there is a severe lack of local recycling capacity. Several steps can be taken to build recycling capacity in the localities where e-waste ends up, including through formalising e-waste collection by training and supporting informal workers, putting in place the framework conditions for nascent domestic battery recycling sectors.

Governments can also work with major economies, international actors, and multistakeholder initiatives to build capacity and support local customs authorities, including to assess battery health of EVs.

Mandate extended, or ultimate, producer responsibility

In response to growing amounts of e-waste ending up as landfill, some major economies have begun to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR), obliging battery producers to assume responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their batteries, a move that will increase the traceability and circularity of the cobalt value chain.

Countries who have not done so can put in place laws mandating extended producer responsibility (EPR) or introduce ultimate producer responsibility (UPR), promote targets for cobalt recycling via legislation, and provide streamlined financial support to the entire cobalt recycling value chain.

Harmonise waste classification

Currently, many countries lack the granular waste codes needed for easy trade of lithium-ion batteries and black mass, and different national authorities interpret shipments differently, making it challenging to easily transport secondary feedstocks from country-to-country.

Major economies can also work together to harmonise interpretations of waste classifications for spent lithium-ion batteries and black mass, in order to facilitate international flows of secondary cobalt, advocate for formalising battery recycling and technology transfer, and strengthen the monitoring of exports of used EVs.