Earth Day: A Look Into Battery Recycling

[AntS]

First thing that comes into my mind when someone says a piece of tech uses a "recycled battery” is an image of an old battery cleaned up, recharged, and plonked into a new device... which, let's be honest, is a bit rubbish (if you pardon the pun) for high-tech stuff, even if well intended. That’s not how it actually works in most cases of high-tech though - it’d be more accurate to say it uses a “battery made of recycled materials”. But what materials are recycled; and does it mean that you’re getting a worse battery?

As part of Earth Day I thought I’d take a look into Samsung’s own battery recycling Circular Battery Supply Chain initiative that’s been used for the first time in the Galaxy S25 series.

Got any spare cobalt, mate?

Cobalt is an essential material for stability and optimal performance in all those lithium-ion batteries that are in our smartphones, smartwatches, laptops etc. It's used to produce material for the battery's cathode component.

Turns out that recycled cobalt and newly mined cobalt are virtually identical: cobalt doesn’t degrade with battery use, so, in theory, it can be recycled indefinitely. So, as it doesn't make the final battery product worse, makes sense to do that rather than just chucking the cobalt away and mining for more of it, right?

Round, round baby, round, round

Samsung’s internal recycling of cobalt from used batteries works like this:

Begins with collecting used Galaxy smartphones, followed by dismantling and discharging their batteries. These batteries are then shredded and processed into a fine powder known as “black mass.” This is subsequently refined to extract cobalt  - which is used to produce material for the new battery.

All done according to stringent health & safety and environmental regulations, as well as Samsung’s own exceptionally high internal standards; and involved engaging with numerous partner companies along the journey to get to this point.

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A better, more sustainable future

Of course, Samsung aren’t stopping there; and the challenge, as always, is to recycle as much as possible without side-effects or compromising performance of the final product. As Sangcheul Lee, part of the Samsung team who worked on turning the Circular Battery Supply Chain from a vision into a reality in under three years, says: 

“I hope to continue developing sustainable batteries by expanding our recycling efforts to include lithium and other materials.”

And with us all having an increasing awareness of our ecological impact, even if lithium-ion becomes replaced by a different power technology in the future, I'd hope that sustainable and ecological thinking is incorporated into that technology from the start and throughout. In my opinion, we should aim for a sustainable and more environmentally harmonious continued enjoyment of the benefits of ever-advancing technology.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts (and ideas!) on it all too - so feel free to share them in the comments below!

Discover more

• Galaxy S25 Series