Lead Battery Recycling

Lead batteries are the most recycled consumer product on the planet. More than 99 percent of lead batteries are recycled. In comparison, only 67 percent of paper products and only 55 percent of aluminum cans are recycled.

Doe Run’s Resource Recycling facility in Boss, Missouri, is one of the world’s largest single-site lead battery recycling facilities. Without U.S. battery recyclers like Doe Run, the U.S. would have to import 1.6 million tons of lead annually to meet market needs. (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021-lead.pdf)

We play two important roles for battery manufacturers:

1. We provide pure lead and lead alloy metals they need to produce batteries.
2. We recycle those batteries at the end of their life to recover metal and plastic that can be used again.

Resource Recycling annually recycles about 370 million pounds of lead bearing materials, including approximately 8 million recycled lead batteries each year. Our lead recycling plant also handles lead bullets and shot, lead-based paint chips, metallic lead scrap and lead bearing residues. It is also one of only a few locations that recovers the lead from cathode ray tubes (CRT’s).

Our work at Resource Recycling keeps those batteries out of landfills and puts valuable lead metal back to work.

• Sustainable: Lead batteries are the most recycled consumer product in the world.
• Essential: Lead batteries connect, power and protect our way of life. They run communications networks and store back-up energy for emergencies.
• Innovative: Partnerships between battery manufacturers, recyclers, universities and energy companies are yielding new applications for lead batteries, like renewable energy. Their use in start/stop vehicle applications reduces fuel consumption and emissions by stopping the engine when the car comes to a full stop, and seamlessly restarting when the brake is released. In the U.S. this means nearly 6.7 million tons of greenhouse gasses are eliminated each year.
• Safe: Lead batteries have a long history of reliable use in critical industries, such as transportation, communications, security, medical and aviation.

Our Lead Battery Recycling Process

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