In November 2025, the U.S. Geological Survey added lead to the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. The designation underscores the strategic importance of lead battery recycling to America’s domestic supply of a material essential to transportation, communications, energy storage, national security and other critical infrastructure.
With no primary lead smelting in the U.S., domestic battery recycling provides a reliable source of critical mineral lead while reducing dependence on foreign supply chains.
Battery recycling is more than an environmental success story. It is a strategic part of America’s domestic critical mineral supply.
Hear from leaders across the battery recycling industry about how the closed-loop recycling system recovers lead, antimony and tin, reduces reliance on foreign supply chains, and supports U.S. manufacturing, energy security, national security and critical infrastructure.
Watch the video to see why a strong domestic battery recycling industry matters.
Critical minerals are materials essential to economic and national security that face supply chain vulnerabilities. These materials typically have:
Lead battery recycling helps address these vulnerabilities by recovering critical minerals from end-of-life batteries and returning them to productive use, reducing reliance on foreign sources and newly mined materials.
The U.S. produces zero primary lead. Lead concentrates from domestic mines are exported for processing. That makes recycling the nation’s primary domestic source of refined lead. Without battery recycling, the U.S. would depend heavily on imports for this critical mineral.
Domestic lead battery recycling supplies approximately 70% of U.S. lead demand, making the recycling industry essential to maintaining a reliable domestic supply of a critical mineral that communities and industries across America depend on every day.
Battery recycling simultaneously recovers three critical minerals:
Lead – The primary component of batteries; recycling supplies 70% of domestic demand, making recycling the nation’s primary domestic source of refined lead.
Antimony – Critical alloying element that strengthens battery grids; China produces 48% globally and imposed export restrictions in December 2024. Battery recycling supplies ~18% of U.S. antimony demand—one of the few domestic sources.
Tin – Enhances corrosion resistance in battery alloys; ~10,000 tons recovered annually, representing 27% of U.S. consumption.
When Supply Chains Are Disrupted
When China restricted antimony exports in December 2024, global prices doubled overnight. Import-dependent industries faced sudden uncertainty and cost increases.
Battery recycling operations continued recovering antimony alongside lead and tin, demonstrating the stability of domestic recycling operations during foreign supply chain shocks.
Lead, tin, and antimony can be recycled indefinitely without degrading in quality or performance. The same atoms may have been in use for decades.
Established & Reliable: Over 300,000 collection sites support a nationwide recycling network that efficiently moves spent lead batteries from collection to domestic recycling facilities.
Energy Efficient: Recycling uses 90% less energy than primary production, reducing both operational costs and environmental impact.
Environmentally Responsible: Modern facilities invest heavily in emission controls and environmental protection, operating under rigorous U.S. environmental and worker-protection standards.
Economic Impact: Recycling facilities provide skilled jobs in metallurgy, engineering, logistics, and operations, contributing to local economies through employment and tax revenue.
ABR members operate under stringent environmental, health, and safety regulations that ensure responsible recycling. This commitment to excellence means:
The combination of high recovery rates and rigorous standards positions U.S. battery recycling as a model for responsible domestic critical mineral recovery.
Unlawful exports of spent lead batteries allow critical minerals—lead, antimony, and tin—to leave the United States and North America’s circular economy. These exports undermine domestic supply security and the infrastructure ABR members have built.
Exporters may conceal unlawful activity through mislabeling shipments, false documentation, routing through multiple jurisdictions, or misrepresenting battery condition. Each unlawful export removes valuable critical minerals from the domestic supply chain.
Curtailing these unlawful exports would allow current recycling facilities to operate at full capacity, encourage investment in future expansion, and strengthen the domestic supply of critical minerals. As the industry works to keep more end-of-life batteries in the United States for recycling, there’s potential to further strengthen domestic supply security and reduce reliance on foreign sources.
Lead’s designation as a critical mineral highlights the strategic importance of the entire battery recycling system. Understanding how this closed-loop process operates, from collection through recycling to manufacturing, demonstrates why keeping these materials in circulation domestically is essential to America’s critical mineral supply.
