Augustine Ekechi, an engineer and expert in sustainable energy and materials recovery, has outlined innovative, eco-friendly solutions for recycling lithium-ion batteries and tackling the growing e-waste challenge.
Disclosing this recently, he asserts that using food waste to recycle lithium-ion batteries provides a sustainable, low-cost alternative that reduces pollution.
“Organic wastes such as orange peels, grape seeds, and macadamia shells can effectively recover essential metals like cobalt, nickel, and lithium from spent batteries, without the environmental and energy costs of conventional methods,” Ekechi said.
Ekechi underscores that millions of tons of lithium-ion batteries are discarded globally every year, leaching harmful chemicals into the environment.
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The International Energy Agency estimated that over 15 million metric tons of battery waste were generated in 2025, a figure projected to rise to 36 million metric tons by 2030.
Current recycling methods, while necessary, are often expensive, energy-intensive, and pose environmental risks.
Ekechi’s 2025 review, “The Regeneration of Metal Components from the Cathode of Spent Lithium-ion Batteries Using Food Wastes: A Review,” presents an eco-friendly alternative.
In the statement, he said that the paper highlights how natural wastes containing organic acids such as orange peels, waste tea, macadamia shells, and grape seed residues can act as bio-leaching agents to extract metals crucial for battery production and renewable energy systems.
“This approach addresses two major waste challenges simultaneously electronic waste and food waste turning what would be pollutants into resources for sustainable recycling,” he explained.
Research from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore demonstrated in 2020 that dried orange peels, combined with citric acid, could recover up to 90% of cobalt from spent lithium-ion batteries.
The recovered metals were then used to manufacture new batteries with performance comparable to commercial models, producing non-toxic residues.
Similarly, a 2025 report from Canada’s Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority described a pilot facility that uses fruit peel-based solvents to process 2,000 liters of battery waste at a time, recovering over 90% of metals.
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Pilot studies in Nigeria are evaluating the use of local fruit market waste for bioleaching. “Early findings suggest that local food waste can offer a low-cost, scalable solution for sustainable battery recycling in Africa,” Ekechi noted in the statement.
The broader implications of this research are substantial. Bloomberg NEF projects that by 2030, recycled lithium could supply 10–15% of global demand for electric vehicle batteries, saving billions in raw material costs while reducing carbon emissions.
In Africa, where electronic waste is a growing challenge, Ekechi’s approach provides both environmental protection and industrial opportunity.
Ekechi is a seasoned engineer and researcher with a proven track record of turning scientific insights into practical solutions.
