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by boutell 18 days ago
Thank you. Among other important points there:

"That said, Japan isn't the only country pursuing lithium recovery. In the US, Redwood Materials – the recycling company founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel – says it's already recovering 95% of lithium from the equivalent of about 250,000 EVs per year."

EV batteries are too large and valuable to wind up in landfills, although I'm sure it has happened somewhere. I do like that Japan is is making it harder to just throw out smaller lithium batteries. That strikes me as a more probable source of waste.

2 comments

I would add that EV batteries are too flammable to end up in landfills. A few small batteries from things like phones and laptops generally make it through the waste processing chain without rupturing and causing problems, but a large pile of them outside of containment starts becoming a certainty that one will break and set the whole lot on fire.
Classic

>racism

>racism, Japan

Type scenario.