Ten years have passed since electric buses were used on a large scale during the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. A rise in the production and sale of NEVs has boosted the battery industry.

According to a report issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in February, China's power cell industry is the largest in the world. The China Automotive Technology and Research Co. Ltd estimates there would be 120,000-200,000 tons of spent batteries from 2018 to 2020. By 2025, the amount will exceed 750, 000 tons, with a valuation of up to billions of U.S. dollars.

Compared with the expanding battery market, China's battery recycling model is underdeveloped, aggravated by a messy recycling industry. If not properly dealt with, a huge amount of spent old lithium batteries will not only lead to a waste of valuable resources, but also block the sustainable development of the battery sector. Worse still, these wastes might put the environment at risk.

How to recycle used batteries has long been a headache to China. From the perspective of environmental protection and green development, battery recycling and traceability is very important. There should be some policy-based guidance and an industrial system of recycling used batteries to ensure healthy development of the overall new energy industry.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in China Financial Weekly on March 18)