Battery recycling advocacy recommendation for SEVA

[Glenn Brooks]

Hello all

Not sure who in SEVA might be interested in an advocacy project. The issue here is thatnKing County and maybe all of Washington has no lithium battery recycling program, or policy initiative to start one. At present, KC recycling will not accept any automotive style lithium batteries- including individual lifepo4 3.2 amp cells. I learned this last week when I tried to turn in 4 damaged EVE 305 amps cells, and KC refused to accept them. Eventually I found a commercial battery house that charged me $135 for recycling 3 of the cells. The current rate is around $3/pound for defective cells/batteries. I kept the 4th and still have it, due to the overall cost.

The guys at KC hazardous waste were very apologetic, and said they have queried KC management several times about expanding the haz waste program to include automotive grade lithium battery components - to no avail. Apparently Washington State hazardous waste program has no provision for lithium battery disposal. Hence KC has no framework to work with. And apparently no interest in developing one.

Is this something that SEVA could, or should, be interested in?

Thanks,
Glenn Brooks
Sent from my iPad

[Rod Johnson]

Glenn,

  Thank you for bringing up this issue. 

It is not only automotive batteries, but so many smaller consumer tool batteries.  In addition, there are becoming many more home power storage units, and at some point those cells will need to be recycled.  Many amateur radio operators have backup power capability for emergency communications. Many have already, or will soon need to, replace their old lead-acid storage batteries with LiFePO4 chemistry.  As with the acceptance of EV's, the battery replacement issue will become a snowball of huge proportions, I think if some sort of a program is not begun soon, it will become another significant environmental issue.  

  Rod Johnson  

 Issaquah, WA

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Learn about EVs and EVents at: https://www.seattleeva.org

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[Paul G.]

One company that has been working on this is Redwood Materials in Nevada. The company was founded by J.B. Straubel, who used to attend SEVA meetings here and built an electric Porsche. He went on to work for Tesla at its start and then went on to round Redwood Materials to promote the recycling of EV batteries and electronics waste. 

<https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/recycle-with-us-all/>

Paul G.

[Benjamen Hempstead, PE]

Forgot to add, my comments apply to golf carts as well. When lead acid GCs go these days, almost everyone is switching to a LiFePo battery replacement. That's a sizeable user group as well.

Ben Hempstead, PE

Hempstead Engineering PLLC 

206 250 4072

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From: Benjamen Hempstead, PE <hempsteade...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, 03 September 2026 08:52:59
To: SEVA...@googlegroups.com <SEVA...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SEVA] Battery recycling advocacy recommendation for SEVA

 

I agree! The recreational marine and RV worlds are fast switching over to LiFePo as well. Costs are now competitive with lead acid and the charging systems are programmable so I expect this will continue to go fast. I personally am sitting on 5 dead Smart modules at 42 lbs each... and nowhere to take them. 

Ben Hempstead, PE

Ben Hempstead, PE

Hempstead Engineering PLLC 

206 250 4072

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From: 'Rod Johnson' via SEVA Email List <SEVA...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 02 September 2026 23:31:29
To: SEVA...@googlegroups.com <SEVA...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SEVA] Battery recycling advocacy recommendation for SEVA

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/1900277407.290539.1788417089489%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Benjamen Hempstead, PE]

I agree! The recreational marine and RV worlds are fast switching over to LiFePo as well. Costs are now competitive with lead acid and the charging systems are programmable so I expect this will continue to go fast. I personally am sitting on 5 dead Smart modules at 42 lbs each... and nowhere to take them. 

Ben Hempstead, PE

Ben Hempstead, PE

Hempstead Engineering PLLC 

206 250 4072

---

From: 'Rod Johnson' via SEVA Email List <SEVA...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 02 September 2026 23:31:29
To: SEVA...@googlegroups.com <SEVA...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [SEVA] Battery recycling advocacy recommendation for SEVA

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/1900277407.290539.1788417089489%40mail.yahoo.com.

[bstr...@gmail.com]

What happened to the company I read about just across the border in BC, somewhere East of Vancouver that was recycling batteries and tooling up for lithium? 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 3, 2026, at 11:32 AM, Benjamen Hempstead, PE <hempsteade...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/BN8PR20MB23409A0A0DCC1C0AF1ED22E6F1B62%40BN8PR20MB2340.namprd20.prod.outlook.com.

[Stan Parker]

the company is in Surry, "Moment Energy" 1-778-266-9944.

Stan

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[cb_rad...@riseup.net]

I think that the way to go with this issue is what's called "extended
producer responsibility." It is not a new idea in environmentalist
circles, and it basically means that if you (a company) make something,
you must accept it back and recycle it whenever people are done with it,
the "end of its life." Often the company pays/must pay to have it
shipped back to them as well.

Why this matters is that goods are often sold to a series of poorer
people as the item depreciates in value, until it is in the hands of
someone who is unable or unwilling to pay to recycle things, and dumps
it.

In the case of EVs, since EVs are themselves beneficial to society (as
an alternative to fossil fuel combustion) and as such should be
incentivized rather than disincentivized, we would not want to make it
more expensive for the company by requiring them to pay for the
recycling; so what I would suggest considering to advocate for is that
in WA state, the producer must accept and recycle the item (they're the
experts, after all) but the state reimburses them for the cost of doing
the recycling. So like, the EV maker would tally up how many EVs or EV
batteries from WA state they recycled, and at convenient intervals
(quarterly, yearly, or whatever is agreed between the companies and the
state) they get a check from the state. There could be a provision for
getting the dead batteries shipped from consumer to producer at no cost
to the consumer, as well.

Corey Ballantyne

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[Glenn Brooks]

Don’t know if this would work, as the producers are not usually the raw materials manufacturers and refiners. Most of the time they just assemble and transship components - and don’t handle raw materials.

However, Washington does have some kind of current similar electronics and computer screens/ tv recycling program where a couple of businesses accept end of life electronics and somehow scrap and seek public reimbursement from the state. No idea how that works. But I assume dead lithium batteries will soon reach an economy of scale to allow a similar approach.


Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 4, 2026, at 1:52 PM, cb_rad...@riseup.net wrote:
>
> I think that the way to go with this issue is what's called "extended

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/b6238a7bd66a9030bfbfa68ae049803b%40riseup.net.

[bstr...@gmail.com]

Ah… looking at their website
Looks like they’ve gone in a different direction from actually grinding up lithium batteries and separating elements as a video I watched several years ago indicated.
Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 4, 2026, at 4:56 PM, Glenn Brooks <glenn.b...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Don’t know if this would work, as the producers are not usually the raw materials manufacturers and refiners. Most of the time they just assemble and transship components - and don’t handle raw materials.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SEVA_list/E491481B-2E20-4430-955A-89AD8C93591A%40gmail.com.