Recycling gives batteries a second charge in E China's Jieshou

Photo shows the assembling workshop of Tianneng Battery Group (Anhui) Co., Ltd. in Jieshou, Fuyang, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Miao Zijian)

Discarded batteries undergo a significant transformation at the Tianying Technology Park in Jieshou, Fuyang, east China's Anhui Province.

By undergoing an intricate process involving disassembly, smelting, processing, and reassembly, used lead-acid batteries are repurposed into brand-new ones. But what's the story behind this change?

Between the 1970s and 1980s, a group of Jieshou locals began recycling plastics and metals. After decades of effort, the county-level city boasts the country's most comprehensive recycling industrial cluster. Tianying Technology Park, in particular, is recognized as China's largest industrial park for recycling power batteries.

Anhui Huabo Renewable Resources Technology Co., Ltd., a company specializing in green and efficient recycling of expired lead-acid batteries, is based in this technology park. It processes 900,000 tons of batteries annually.

Equipped with advanced facilities and a proprietary casting system, the company transforms spent batteries into raw materials for new storage cells.

A ton of used lead-acid batteries can be recycled to yield nearly 630 kilograms of secondary lead, 100 kilograms of sulfuric acid, and 70 kilograms of polypropylene plastic. The overall recycling rate surpasses 99 percent.

According to Liu Shupei, the company's production department manager, the company converts one million tons of used lead-acid batteries "from waste into wealth" each year.

The Tianying Technology Park has successfully established a comprehensive industrial chain, encompassing waste battery recycling, smelting, processing, and selling, and it hosts several nationally renowned cell manufacturers.

Tianneng Battery Group (Anhui) Co., Ltd., a company dedicated to researching and developing power batteries, entered the technology park in August 2010.

"Our battery products are primarily made of lead. Anhui Huabo Renewable Resources Technology Co., Ltd. supplies most of our components, helping us cut the cost of raw materials and logistics," said Zhang Zhao, general manager assistant at Tianneng Battery Group (Anhui) Co., Ltd.