Circular economy
A loop that has
to work in the real world.
The value of lead recovery lies in returning useful material to production while controlling what happens at every stage.
Use well
Choose an appropriate application. Design for useful service, maintenance and eventual recovery.
Collect
Make the return route practical, traceable and properly controlled.
Recover
Separate and process materials with controls for emissions, residues and exposure.
Make again
Bring verified recovered material back into a suitable manufacturing process.
Recoverability is a property.
Circularity is a system.
The practical challenge is to connect a product’s end of life to a safe recovery route and a suitable next use. Collection, processing and the demand for recovered material all have to function together.
Material-flow explorer
What makes it
back into use?
Start with 100 tonnes of lead available at end of life. Change the collection rate, recovery yield and material demand to explore one simplified cycle.
The recovered lead can meet 71.3% of the 120-tonne demand.
- Not collected
- 10 t
- Not recovered in processing
- 4.5 t
- Additional supply needed
- 34.5 t
- Recovered surplus
- 0 t
All quantities refer to lead content, not whole-battery mass. Recovered material is assumed suitable for the next use. Additional supply could come from other recovered stocks or primary production; this model does not identify its source. It excludes time delays, energy, costs, emissions, alloy adjustments and life-cycle impacts. “Not recovered” is a material-balance category, not a claim that all of it is released into the environment.
How the calculation works
Collected lead = 100 t × collection rate. Recovered lead = collected lead × recovery yield. Additional supply = the greater of zero or demand minus recovered lead. Recovered surplus = the greater of zero or recovered lead minus demand. The model calculates one material cycle; it is not a life-cycle assessment.
Know the denominator
Four measures.
Different questions.
Collection
How much end-of-life material actually returns?
Recycling efficiency
How much output is recovered from the defined recycling input?
Material recovery
How much of a specific constituent is recovered?
Recycled content
How much secondary material goes into a new product?
The EU framework distinguishes these measures. Read the Commission’s explanation.
The historical lead-battery result.
The IHS Markit study’s 97.3% figure concerns collection and recycling in fourteen European markets during 2015–2017. It is not a recovery yield to plug into the explorer or evidence that primary mining is no longer needed.
Read the industry-commissioned study