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        "lede": "What happens to a battery after its first life: reuse, and the recycling routes that recover its materials, step by step.",
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        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Recycling by smelting whole cells or modules in a furnace, which recovers nickel, cobalt and copper as an alloy but loses lithium, aluminium and graphite to the slag. It is robust to mixed feed and is often the first step before a hydrometallurgical finish.",
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        "definition": "Recovering cathode material with its crystal structure intact and relithiating it for reuse, instead of breaking it down to metal salts. It promises lower energy and cost but must handle a mix of chemistries and ages.",
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        "name": "EU Battery Regulation",
        "aka": [
          "Regulation (EU) 2023/1542"
        ],
        "section": "topic-sustainability",
        "definition": "The European law, in force since 2023, that governs batteries over their whole life: carbon-footprint declarations, recycled-content minimums, due diligence on raw materials, performance and durability requirements, removability, the battery passport and collection and recycling targets.",
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        "mentions": [
          "collection-target"
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    },
    {
      "id": "term:collection-target",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Collection and recycling targets",
      "properties": {
        "id": "collection-target",
        "name": "Collection and recycling targets",
        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "The EU Battery Regulation’s quotas: portable batteries collected at 63 % by 2027 and 73 % by 2030, light-means-of-transport batteries at 51 % by 2028, with recycling efficiencies of 65 % for lithium-based batteries by 2025 and 70 % by 2030, and material recovery of 50 % of lithium by 2027 rising to 80 % by 2031.",
        "unit": "%",
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        "definition": "The metal that stabilises layered-oxide cathodes, mined largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo under scrutiny for working conditions. Its price and ethics have driven the industry from LCO and NMC111 towards high-nickel and cobalt-free LFP.",
        "related": [
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    {
      "id": "term:production-scrap",
      "type": "Term",
      "label": "Production scrap",
      "properties": {
        "id": "production-scrap",
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        "aka": [
          "manufacturing scrap",
          "electrode scrap"
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        "section": "topic-recycling",
        "definition": "Rejected electrodes, cut-offs and failed cells from gigafactories, today the largest feedstock of battery recyclers. It is clean and of known chemistry, so it can often be processed by simpler routes than end-of-life packs.",
        "related": [
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    },
    {
      "id": "reference:harper-recycling",
      "type": "Reference",
      "label": "Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles",
      "properties": {
        "title": "Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles",
        "publisher": "Nature",
        "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1682-5",
        "type": "Review article",
        "scope": "Reuse, disassembly and mechanical, hydro-, pyro- and direct recycling routes.",
        "year": 2019,
        "authors": [
          "Gavin Harper et al."
        ],
        "accessed": "2026-10-27"
      }
    }
  ]
}
