Management of spent power batteries in China: Progress, policies, and challenges

Abstract

The rapid accumulation of spent power batteries presents critical challenges to global resource circularity and environmental sustainability. As the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) market, China has seen its battery recycling sector garner significant academic attention. However, existing studies have neglected the dynamics of small and medium-sized recyclers, temporal evolution patterns of policy instruments, and cross-disciplinary integration mechanisms. To address these gaps, this study synthesizes fragmented industrial data from 2012 to 2023, encompassing over 54,000 registered recyclers, 50 national policies, and 30 technical standards. Additionally, we propose a five-stage policy evolution framework to compare policy across five nations through seven dimensions. Firstly, the recycling industry shows extensive capacity and network coverage, yet exhibits "low-capital agglomeration", with 98 % of enterprises operating below $7 million in registered capital. Secondly, policy frameworks prioritize incentive-based mechanisms over enforcement and have transitioned through three distinct phases: pilot programs (2012–2015), systematization (2016–2019), and industrial restructuring (2020–2024). Key implications for emerging economies include legislative clarification of stakeholder responsibilities, prioritization of labor-intensive disassembly technologies, and adoption of a whitelist certification system to standardize market participation. Thirdly, persistent challenges including structural overcapacity, economic-environmental trade-offs, and supply chain fragmentation remain unresolved. Finally, this study proposes nine research directions that integrate methodologies from computer science, chemistry, anthropology, space science, environmental engineering, and more than 10 other disciplines to address these issues.