How should used lithium batteries be disposed of? Are they regarded as problem waste?
When the capacity of your lithium batteries has fallen below an amount that you wish to use in your car, they can continue to be used for storing wind-generated electricity, in your boat, or in any other location which has an adequate amount of space. Lithium batteries are not problem waste. Lithium is still so cheap that it is not recycled. In Finland, there is a company called Akkuser (http://www.akkuser.fi/) which recycles lithium batteries using high technology methods. The primary material being recycled is cobalt oxide. In the future, recycling litium-ion batteries will make good sense because doing so makes it easy to obtain new operational units. This is also the most sustainable alternative from an environmental viewpoint.
