Smart Bins Aim to Fix America’s Battery Blind Spot

Sensor equipped bins seek to lift lithium ion collection, cut fire risk, and strengthen domestic EV recycling

27 Feb 2026

A quiet shift is underway in the US battery recycling industry. As electric vehicle adoption picks up speed, Redwood Materials is zeroing in on a problem that has long sat in the shadows: collection. The company has rolled out eight sensor equipped smart battery bins in the San Francisco Bay Area, with plans to expand across Northern California and Northern Nevada.

For years, the spotlight has been on what happens inside recycling plants, where companies refine and recover valuable metals. But the system often falters before batteries even make it that far. In the United States, collection rates lag behind Europe, where tighter rules push more used batteries back into the system.

The result is both waste and risk. Millions of small lithium ion batteries are tossed into household trash, where they can spark fires in garbage trucks and waste facilities. At the same time, critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt are lost instead of reused.

Redwood’s smart bins are built to tackle that front end problem. Each unit includes sensors and automated safety controls that monitor deposits and lower the risk of overheating. Remote tracking allows the company to schedule pickups more efficiently and streamline logistics.

Inside its processing plants, Redwood says it recovers more than 95 percent of key materials. That figure reflects its established recycling operations, not the early performance of the new bins. Still, the company sees collection as the foundation of a circular battery economy.

The timing is no accident. Federal incentives tied to domestic battery production are raising the stakes for securing recycled materials at home. Stronger collection networks could ease dependence on imported minerals and help stabilize the supply chain.

Scaling up will not be simple. Cities, retailers, and policymakers will need to coordinate, and consumers will have to know where and how to drop off their old devices.

Yet the direction is clear. Battery recycling is no longer just about what happens at the plant. It starts the moment someone decides not to throw a battery in the trash, and that small choice could shape the next chapter of the EV economy.