Recycled Lead Market Size

Recycled Lead Market Size

Recycled Lead market size was USD over 15.0 billion in 2019 and shall exhibit gains of over 3.5% CAGR throughout the forecast timespan. Widespread product applications in industries such as energy, transportation, data centers, electronics, construction, and healthcare will dictate the industry’s growth over the forecast timeframe.

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Recycled lead or also commonly called as secondary lead is extracted from components containing lead such as lead acid batteries, cable sheathings, lead sheet boards, pipes, and plumbing articles, etc. Globally, lead has the highest recycling rates, better than common recyclable items such as glass, newspaper, paper and cardboard, rigid plastics/bottles etc.

As per the International Lead Association, nearly more than 50% of the global lead demand is sourced from recycled lead. It is mainly due to the simple production and cost-efficient nature of recycled lead, coupled with the lowering number of lead mining due to depleting lead ore and increasing regulation of lead mining.

The major source of lead recycling is lead acid batteries, where every component is separated, lead is processed and converted into various forms for further applications.

Lead is known for its excellent properties such as corrosion resistance, excellent malleability, and soft texture. Along with these properties recycled lead market has decent size to weight ratio, making it appropriate for various industrial applications such as electronics, construction, paints & coatings, petroleum, etc.

However, its toxic nature has found to have equally serious health concerns for children and adults. Hence, in recent times, lead use in petroleum and paints & coatings for public and private construction has been phased out in the majority of countries. Additionally, lead scraps are hazardous waste and their unsafe disposal results in grave environmental & health problems.

Methodical and proper lead recycling from scraps results in less solid waste and consumes over 35% lesser energy and reduces the consumption of minerals than lead production from ores.

One of the important hindrances to the growth of the recycled lead market will be the continued unregulated lead recycling and growing demand for lithium-ion technology. Lead recycling is a simple process that can be carried out in limited space and with lesser tools, which is a common practice in developing counties such as China, India, Malaysia etc.

Such practices possess greater health risks to the involved workers & the surrounding environment, thereby affecting the lead recycling industry.

With proper streamlining of lead scrap processing, use of essential smelting equipment and lead-acid batteries infrastructure, the recycled lead market will observe a speedier growth over the forecast period. On the other hand, recycled lead is largely driven by the use of lead-acid batteries, that are largely used in automobiles, owing to its low cost and longer shelf life.

However, lithium-ion batteries are also rapidly becoming a stronger choice as replacement of lead acid batteries due to their lowering price and increasing capacity. Nevertheless, the growing capacity of lead-acid batteries at lower is expected to continue its share in the battery market, thereby driving demand for the secondary lead over the forecast period.