It won’t be easy—just as it isn’t for plastics. But we can’t just live in the mess.
I would love for companies to have more responsibility on that front and to lead by example. They currently have an economic incentive to recycle in that the cost of battery materials is so high. But if the cost of making batteries goes down, that incentive for companies could disappear. That is where we, as consumers, have power.
We need to push battery companies to report how much carbon dioxide was emitted during a battery’s fabrication, what mining practices were used, where the materials were sourced from, and how long the battery will last, for example. And then we need to buy only those devices containing batteries that are sustainable, long-lasting, and recyclable.