China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is entering a pivotal phase as the first wave of large-scale battery retirements begins. With millions of batteries approaching end-of-life, recycling has become one of the most urgent tests of the country’s decarbonization agenda.
On October 20, China introduced 22 national standards governing every stage of power battery recycling—from disassembly and residual energy testing to material regeneration and waste lithium-ion management—signaling a decisive move to bring structure and accountability to a sector that underpins its clean energy transition.
At the center of this policy shift stands BRUNP Recycling, a subsidiary of CATL and arguably the most influential company shaping global battery recycling practices. Having led or participated in the creation of more than 80 percent of China’s lithium battery recycling standards, including all national-level frameworks, BRUNP has evolved from a domestic processor into a benchmark for technological and regulatory leadership recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation.
The company’s proprietary Directional Recycling Technology (DRT) lies at the heart of CATL’s circular operations. Through DRT, BRUNP achieves recovery rates of 99.6 percent for nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and 96.5 percent for lithium—levels that place it among the most efficient recyclers worldwide. In 2024, it processed over 120,000 tons of end-of-life batteries and produced 17,100 tons of regenerated lithium salts, reinforcing its industrial dominance and technological maturity. BRUNP’s transformation from a modest operation into a multibillion-RMB enterprise mirrors the evolution of China’s recycling landscape from fragmented and loosely regulated to standardized, large-scale, and innovation-driven.
By pioneering and publicly sharing the DRT framework, BRUNP has turned proprietary innovation into shared infrastructure, accelerating the sector’s collective transition toward low-carbon operations. Its closed-loop ecosystem—spanning battery production, use, second-life applications, recycling, and resource regeneration—now provides a stable supply of low-carbon materials critical to sustaining China’s rapid electrification.
CATL, meanwhile, is redefining recycling not as an end-of-pipe measure but as a systemic redesign of how batteries are produced, used, and recovered. During London Climate Action Week 2025, CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) announced an ambition to decouple new battery production from virgin resource extraction, setting a long-term goal that within 20 years, half of CATL’s new batteries will be manufactured without using virgin raw materials. This objective is supported by a series of operational principles derived from EMF’s circular economy framework, including system-level decarbonization through its Carbon Chain Management System, product redesign to extend lifespan—now reaching up to 18,000 cycles for energy storage units—and the planned deployment of over 10,000 battery swap stations to optimize battery utilization and streamline collection for recycling. In 2024 alone, CATL recycled roughly 120,000 tons of used batteries, recovering about 17,000 tons of lithium salts, reflecting the growing industrialization of its circular model.
Since forming a strategic partnership with EMF in early 2025, CATL has worked to turn circular economy theory into operational reality through collaborative research and pilot projects that strengthen supply chain security and reduce reliance on virgin materials. This collaboration complements CATL’s alliances with BASF and Volvo, where circular practices are integrated directly into material design and production. With BASF, CATL co-develops sustainable cathode active materials for global supply chains, while with Volvo it reuses critical materials from retired batteries to produce new ones for the automaker’s electric vehicles. Both partnerships are guided by transparent, traceable management systems that align with international regulatory standards.
Beyond material recovery, CATL is embedding transparency into its supply chain through digital tools such as its CREDIT supplier audit system, designed to enhance environmental and ethical accountability across global operations. The company’s participation in the Global Battery Alliance’s Battery Passport pilot project further strengthens its role in shaping a standardized global traceability system. These initiatives highlight an essential shift in industrial priorities: as recycling becomes central to value creation, traceability and verifiable impact are emerging as the new metrics of leadership in the energy transition.
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