How industry has supported improvements in lead battery recycling in low and middle-income countries

By Dr Steve Binks

Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, ILA

For decades, battery manufacturers and recyclers in many regions have systematically developed and implemented industry-leading best practices designed to protect workers and surrounding communities. This sustained commitment allows facilities across North America and Europe to operate at the highest international standards, often exceeding many local regulatory requirements through voluntary adherence to more stringent industry-led protocols.

In 2025 a series of media reports were published concerning poor practices in lead battery recycling that were discovered in Nigeria.

These stories documented widespread lead pollution of environments surrounding the factories resulting in a public health catastrophe and highlighted practices of some companies involved in the global value chain.

The articles inferred that Industry has been a barrier or that it has actively lobbied against finding solutions.

For its part, the International Lead Association (ILA) has long recognised that poor recycling lead battery practices exist in some low- and middle-income countries and for more than two decades have provided hands on support for governments and non-government organisations in over 40 countries who have been committed to addressing the issue.

In addition, ILA co-authored a World Economic Forum Paper on Creating and Environmentally Conscious Life cycle for Lead-Acid Batteries that provided key recommendations for global policy makers that we believe will help irradicate informal and substandard lead battery recycling in low- and middle-income countries.

Through our work we have recognised that capacity building and knowledge transfer is a critical component that allows policy makers in regions where poor lead battery practices prevail to implement effective regulation.

The ILA and our members actively supported the development of standard operating procedures for Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead-acid Batteries for Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) to help African countries develop effective regulation. This work supports a UN Environment Program guidance manual for the environmentally sound management of waste or used lead acid batteries in Africa designed for policymakers and regulators for which we were designated technical partners.

We were also the original authors of the 2003 Basel Convention Guidelines on Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead-Acid Batteries (ULAB) and actively petitioned the Basel Convention Parties in 2019 to update these guidelines that no longer reflected good practices. This work will culminate in new international guidelines scheduled for publication in 2027.

Whilst guidance on good practice is important, industry can only do so much. Ultimately governments and policy makers in regions where poor lead battery recycling practices exist have a responsibility to develop and enforce effective regulation that supports high standards and eliminates poor quality and informal facilities from the marketplace.

We do however recognise that industry and its Trade Associations can play an important role in improving standards by promoting good practices in lead battery recycling and responsible sourcing. To that end, in partnership with three partner Trade Associations (Battery Council International, the Association of European Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers, and the Association of Battery Recyclers) we launched the Lead Battery 360° program that has a mission to champion best practices in lead mining, lead production and lead battery manufacturing and recycling, and encouraging responsible practices along the entire battery value chain no matter where batteries are produced and recycled. We also helped develop the Joint Due Diligence Standard for Copper, Lead, Molybdenum, Nickel and Zinc is designed to enable effective due diligence for producers and/or traders of these metals that enable companies to comply with the London Metal Exchange (LME) Responsible Sourcing requirements.

In 2025 Lead Battery 360° launched a new certification scheme that allows facilities involved in the lead battery value chain to undergo independent auditing against 66 performance expectations that define responsible production and raw material sourcing.  We believe that in future this will play an important role in promoting responsible practices in the lead battery value chain.

We believe the problem of poor recycling practices in low- and middle-income countries is a complex but tractable problem that can be solved. We are committed to continue our efforts and work in partnership with governments, industries, philanthropies, donors and civil society organizations to find solutions that will enable the world to benefit from lead batteries attributes that can help deliver affordable and clean energy without adversely impacting human health and the environment.

End

References:

Consequences of a Mobile Future: Creating an Environmentally Conscious Life Cycle for Lead-Acid Batteries. World Economic Forum, 2020. Download from: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_LAB_Recycling_Guidelines_2020.pdf
Standard Operating Procedures for the Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead-Acid Batteries. Sustainable Recycling Industries, 2021. Download from: https://www.sustainable-recycling.org/reports/esm-lead-acid-batteries/
UN Environment Program guidance manual for the environmentally sound management of waste or used lead acid batteries in Africa. UN Environment Programme, 2022. Download from: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/guidance-manual-policymakers-and-regulators-environmentally-sound-management-waste
Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Lead-Acid Batteries. Basel Convention. 2003. Download from: https://www.basel.int/Implementation/TechnicalMatters/DevelopmentofTechnicalGuidelines/TechnicalGuidelines/tabid/8025/Default.aspx
Joint Due Diligence Standard for Copper, Lead, Molybdenum, Nickel and Zinc. The copper Mark, International Lead Association, the Nickel Institute, the Internatinal Zinc Association, the International Molybdenum Association and the Responsible Business Alliance. 2021. Download from https://coppermark.org/standards/jdds/
The Lead Battery 360° Programme. Download from https://www.leadbattery360.org/
Lead Battery 360° Assurance Programme. Download from https://www.leadbattery360.org/assurance-2/