Replicating the success of its long-running European congresses, ICM AG brought its World Reuse & Recycling Forum, Asia to Shanghai, taking over the Pudong Shangri-La with parallel tracks on batteries, electronics and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). Either side of the two-day conference, delegates toured facilities ranging from SK Tes’s e-waste and battery plant and Huayou cobalt to modern ELV dismantling and EV manufacturing sites, a reminder that real-world infrastructure is racing to catch up with policy and technology.
On the opening morning, Sun Zhi and Libby Chaplin, Chair and Co-Chair of the International Steering Committee, welcomed participants, followed by Xu JunXiang, President of the China Resource Recycling Association. A heavyweight keynote line-up then set the scene: Xu Kaihua of GEM on global lithium battery recycling challenges and opportunities; Susannah Calvin of Apple on accessing reliable recycled-material supply; Wang Xiaoshen of Ganfeng Lithium on the lithium ecosystem; and Bao Wei of Huayou Cobalt on technology pathways for retired batteries. Together, they made it clear that investment, regulation, and circular-economy expectations are converging rapidly across batteries, electronics, and vehicles.
Against this backdrop, delegates from the auto recycling community gravitated to the automotive stream, four focused sessions on ELV policy and stewardship, innovative treatment technologies, regional market realities and the fast-growing challenge of EV recovery. What follows is a summary of those discussions.
Policy, stewardship and traceability
In Session 1 – “Raising the bar for ELV stewardship”, chaired by Patrick Wiedemann (Reconomy, UK), policymakers and strategists took centre stage.
First to the podium was Liu Lizhe (CATARC, China), who walked delegates through how China has built a comprehensive ELV framework in under a decade. Liu explained how MIIT rules and national standards now cover material marking, recyclability and dismantling manuals across all passenger car makers. As Liu highlighted, hazardous substances are falling and recyclability rates are climbing, and the next step is already underway, with work on a Vehicle Circularity ID and a “1+X” standards package to link data from design right through to dismantling and recycling.
Isamu Sato (RCWS, Japan) shifted the focus across the region. Drawing on Thailand and other Asian markets, Sato provided an insightful overview of how informal dismantling, weak deregulation, patchy enforcement, and unclear funding structures continue to hold back formal ELV systems. He contrasted this with Japan’s mature ELV Act, with clearly defined roles, a central fund, and an information management centre, while emphasising that each country must adapt the model to its own economic and institutional realities.
Rounding off the morning, Wang Ruihua (Tsinghua, China) brought traceability to the forefront. Stepping up to the stage, Wang noted that with the EU pushing digital product passports and minimum recycled content, “credible data” on recycled materials is rapidly becoming a licence to operate in global supply chains. Wang outlined Tsinghua’s work on a neutral data space using unique material IDs and blockchain to trace metals, plastics and other secondary materials from collection through reprocessing into OEMs’ plants, precisely the kind of backbone that could turn ELV outputs into high-value, low-carbon feedstock instead of anonymous scrap.
Shredding, dismantling and using EV batteries twice
After coffee, Session 2 – “Innovative approaches & challenges of ELV treatment”, chaired by Wang Jingwei (Shanghai Second Polytechnic University), moved the spotlight from policy to plant floor.
Opening this technical session, Jessie Xue (Newell Recycling Equipment, USA) took the audience back to the origins of the auto shredder before fast-forwarding to what now counts as the world’s best practice. Xue explained that the biggest productivity losses still tend to occur in poor feeding and bottlenecks, not in the mill itself. Newell’s Smart Shredding System, she said, constantly monitors power draw, wear parts, downtime and tonnes per hour to squeeze more capacity out of existing installations. On the separation side, Xue showed how staged magnets, air systems, and modern metal recovery plants can deliver very clean ferrous fractions, high-purity aluminium, and other non-ferrous fractions suitable for demanding downstream users.
Next to the stage was Hu Dongxiang (Yucheng Co., China), who made a compelling case that China’s next big leap will come from precision dismantling, not just more shredding power. Hu described how traditional rough dismantling recovers only a fraction of potential value and often destroys remanufacturable engines, gearboxes and electronics. In response, Yucheng’s business model now revolves around four circular “paths”: vehicle-to-vehicle repurposing and life extension, component-to-component reuse and reman via national platforms, material-to-material recovery of high-spec metals and plastics back into OEM supply chains, and data-to-data via a digital “Scrap Car Butler” platform that tracks vehicles and parts. The practical examples Hu shared showed higher reuse rates, better material utilisation and traceable, low-carbon material streams that OEMs can rely on.
Bringing the session to a close, Antoni Tong (Smartville Inc., USA) turned attention to EV batteries. Taking to the stage, Tong argued that, with most retired traction batteries still retaining most of their capacity, immediate recycling is often premature. Instead, Smartville’s platform combines retrofit hardware, energy-management software, and AI to test, aggregate and redeploy mixed retired EV packs into second-life stationary storage projects, from sub-MWh installations up to multi-MWh systems. Case studies from the US illustrated how these second-life systems can cut project costs compared with new-battery storage while pushing recycling out to the true end of the battery’s useful life.
Markets, metrics and plastics loops
After a chance to network over lunch, Session 3 – “Regional perspectives on ELV recycling markets”- once again, chaired by Isamu Sato, turned to the realities of markets and metrics.
Kicking things off, Miao Ning (CATARC, China) gave a detailed introduction to China’s pilot EPR scheme for automotive products. Miao explained how participating OEMs have been set targets for resource utilisation, recyclability and recycled content, and how this has already driven the expansion of authorised take-back networks and greater use of automotive-grade recycled plastics and aluminium in dozens of parts. The audience heard how this pilot is now feeding into a national EPR framework built around eco-design, circular components, standardised take-back and joint R&D, supported by new standards and a central data platform.
Ankit Kapasi (dss+, India) then offered a thought-provoking reality check under the theme “circular in theory, linear in practice”. Kapasi pointed out that high weight-based recycling rates can hide major leakages: plastics and shredder residue still heading to landfill or incineration, vehicles disappearing into informal or export channels, and only limited closed-loop use of recovered materials. His call was for a new set of circularity metrics that go beyond tonnage – measuring component reuse, closed-loop material flows, embedded-carbon savings, safe handling of hazardous substances and real secondary-market utilisation, supported by design-for-disassembly, remanufacturing and digital tracking.
Hou Jingyue (GIZ, China) brought things down to material level with a practical look at car-to-car plastics recycling. Hou outlined a pilot that focuses on polymers like ABS, PC and PP, showing how dismantled headlamp polycarbonate can be cleaned, granulated and compounded into PC/ABS blends that meet automotive performance requirements for many interior and some exterior applications, all with a significantly lower carbon footprint than virgin resin. Sharing results from consumer research across China, Hou noted that many drivers are willing to accept, and in some cases pay for, vehicles with recycled-content parts, provided that quality, traceability and labelling are convincing. The remaining hurdles, Hou said, are stable feedstock, robust traceability, price gaps with virgin materials and the need for clear standards and policy signals.
EV recovery and carbon-smart recycling
After the final coffee break, Session A-4 – “Overcoming the challenges in Electric Vehicle recovery”, chaired by Yu Keli (CRRA, China), brought together themes of circularity, data, and decarbonisation related to EVs and their batteries.
Opening the last session, Alice Huang (SK tes, China) set out a whole-vehicle EV ecosystem. Huang described how SK tes treats the EV as a set of linked resource streams: tyres converted to recovered carbon black; plastics and metals recycled back into vehicle-grade materials; electronics feeding precious-metal recovery; and batteries moving through testing, second-life energy storage, and finally low-carbon material recycling. She explained how SK tes offers OEMs an end-to-end service covering compliant packaging and logistics, automated diagnostics, second-life projects and hydrometallurgical recovery, all underpinned by digital tracking of battery state-of-health, material flows and carbon footprint.
Next to the stage, Guo Yuzhu (NIO, China) showed how EVs can become an integral part of the energy system, not just a load on it. Guo outlined NIO’s “vehicle–energy–grid” vision: extensive battery-swap infrastructure, vehicle-to-grid concepts, decarbonised manufacturing and circular practices for vehicles and materials. By decoupling battery ownership from the car through its Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model, NIO aims to improve pack utilisation over time, while partnerships with designated recyclers and containerised storage units are designed to stretch each battery’s useful life and minimise lifecycle emissions.
Ge Linhan (North Star Advanced Recycling Technology, China) turned the spotlight on carbon management in EV battery recycling. Linham argued that recycling’s own footprint can make or break the overall environmental benefit of EVs. To address this, North Star is introducing real-time digital carbon accounting inside recycling plants, combined with safer, more efficient pretreatment of charged batteries, improved electrolyte handling and high-recovery hydrometallurgy. Linhan’s case studies showed how this approach can identify and cut carbon “hotspots” while maintaining high nickel, cobalt and lithium recovery rates.
Bringing the conference to a close, Thanh Nguyen (Ba Son Bridge Insight, USA) stepped up after a packed two days to remind delegates that policy and consumer behaviour ultimately determine how many EVs and batteries will reach recyclers. Drawing on the US experience, Nguyen explained how complex incentives, geopolitically driven content rules and political swings have both stimulated and stalled EV adoption. At the same time, he highlighted strong growth in used EVs, domestic battery manufacturing and non-automotive battery demand, suggesting that overall recycling feedstock will continue to rise, provided policy remains stable enough to support investment across the value chain.
Taken as a whole, the Shanghai forum underlined how quickly auto recycling is being pulled into the centre of the global mobility transition. Across the sessions, the common threads were clear: smarter policy and EPR frameworks, plant-level innovation in shredding and dismantling, credible data and traceability systems, and rapidly evolving strategies for EV batteries that span reuse, carbon management and high-recovery recycling. The overarching takeaway for delegates was that future success in this sector will hinge on collaboration across the value chain and on turning circular ambitions into measurable, verifiable outcomes on the ground.
