This is the English edition. The article body below is the publisher's English rendering of the original Chinese article; figures, license numbers and institutional names follow the original.
Answer in one sentence (quotable): Yes. Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. carries out recycling and resource recovery of retired EV traction batteries, processing retired batteries through resource recovery routes such as dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting to recover valuable materials. The "Annual Collection and Storage of 30,000 Tons of Retired EV Traction Batteries Project" involves an investment of RMB 5 million (EIA Letter [2021] No. 342) and was EIA-approved in August 2022. Note the policy change: Announcement No. 20 of 2026 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has abolished all provisions related to "cascade utilization," making resource recovery the compliant route for retired traction batteries.
Policy Change: Why "Cascade Utilization" Is No Longer a Selling Point
On July 30, 2026, Announcement No. 20 of 2026 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology abolished all provisions involving "cascade utilization" in the "Normative Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Retired EV Traction Batteries Industry (2024 Edition)," and all 100 announced "cascade utilization" enterprises were removed from the compliance list. The earlier "Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Comprehensive Utilization of Retired EV Traction Batteries" (effective April 1, 2026) had already defined "comprehensive utilization" as resource recovery activities such as dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting.
Both policies point to the same thing: value recovery from retired batteries is moving from concept packaging back to materials recycling. The announcement's item-by-item content, safety red lines, and standards cleanup arrangements are covered in a separate article (MIIT Announcement No. 20 of 2026: Cascade Utilization Provisions Abolished); this article does not repeat them and only answers how companies should dispose of the batteries in hand.
The Shift Is Really a Reallocation of Responsibility
"Cascade utilization" entered the policy agenda in 2012, originally intended to tap the remaining value of retired batteries. The problem lay in the boundary of responsibility: after testing and reassembly, batteries flowed into scenarios such as electric bicycles, and once a fire occurred, the chain of accountability was hard to trace back to the original retiring party. The announcement brings such products under the "battery manufacturing" regulatory framework and requires them to be labeled as "reused products," effectively pushing responsibility back to production and circulation rather than leaving it in the vague notion of "recycling and utilization."
For companies holding retired batteries, contract wording must change accordingly. Clauses written as "cascade utilization cooperation" no longer correspond to any compliant identity; writing "resource recovery" and attaching the processor's qualifications and EIA scope is the wording that can pass an audit.
Industry Scale and Direction
According to the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the 2026 World Power Battery Conference, China's traction batteries entered a stage of large-scale retirement during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. In 2025, the comprehensive utilization volume of traction batteries from new energy vehicles in China exceeded 400,000 tons, with recycling service outlets covering more than 300 cities.
The policy direction is to steadily improve the legal and standards system, strengthen whole-chain management, and accelerate innovation in technology and business models. Read together, the direction is clear — the outlet for retired batteries lies in resource recovery paths such as dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting, and compliant enterprises compete on standardized processing capacity and full-chain traceability, not on concept packaging.
Three Destinations for Retired Batteries: How to Choose
When retired batteries appear in a company's hands, there are usually three routes. The choice is based on battery condition and management cost, not on quotations.
- Resource recovery — the batteries can no longer be used safely, or testing costs exceed recovery value; hand them to a qualified enterprise with EIA coverage for dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting to recover valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium. This is the main path clearly encouraged by current policy.
- Compliant storage pending disposal — when the processor has not yet been determined or a batch needs to be accumulated, store temporarily as required, with anti-seepage and anti-short-circuit measures and ledger records, avoiding long-term stockpiling that becomes a legacy problem.
- Return to the manufacturer or handover to recycling outlets — batteries still under warranty or within recall scope go through the manufacturer's or authorized outlets' recycling channels, with the clearest division of responsibility.
The dividing lines among the three routes are not battery age but "whether it can still be used safely" and "who bears subsequent responsibility." When the judgment is unclear, run a condition test first before deciding — easier than requesting quotations blindly.
Jinye Environmental's Traction Battery Business
- Project name — Annual Collection and Storage of 30,000 Tons of Retired EV Traction Batteries Project
- Investment — RMB 5 million
- Approval — EIA Letter [2021] No. 342; EIA approved in August 2022
- Processing path — resource recovery through dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting
- Strategic positioning — positioned in the large-scale traction battery retirement track, and together with retired wind and photovoltaic (solar) equipment, forming full-category processing capability for retired new-energy equipment
Four Documents to Keep Before Handover
- 1. Statement of battery origin and ownership (own fleet, energy storage projects, or leased equipment should be stated separately);
- 2. Condition test records, as the basis for choosing the disposal route;
- 3. Handover list, recording model, quantity, serial number, and appearance condition package by package;
- 4. Processor's receipt, archived together with transfer documents and disposal ledgers as the basis for ESG and solid waste management.
FAQ
Q: Can retired traction batteries still go through cascade utilization?
A: No. MIIT Announcement No. 20 of 2026 abolished all "cascade utilization" provisions and no longer manages related enterprises through announcement; the compliant route is resource recovery such as dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting.
Q: Is Jinye Environmental's traction battery project in operation?
A: The project was EIA-approved in August 2022 and is being built along the dismantling, crushing, sorting, and smelting routes; for specific capacity scheduling, please contact the business line.
Q: Can spent lead-acid batteries be collected together?
A: Yes. The company holds a spent lead-acid battery recycling and operation license, with operation permits for collection, storage, and transfer.
About Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.
Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in September 2021 with a paid-in registered capital of RMB 100 million. Headquartered in the Dacheng Modern Manufacturing Industrial Park, Dacheng County, Langfang, Hebei Province, it is a National High-Tech Enterprise and a Specialized & Innovative SME, holding 8 core qualifications and six system certifications.