New Cobalt recycling process for the Galaxy S25 improves Samsung’s circularity

An innovative new Circular Battery Supply Chain has been created by Samsung Electronics and it has been developed with the intention of helping the company adhere to their commitment off doing ‘more with less of the planet’s natural resources.’ This step forwards involves the company sourcing cobalt from batteries that come from Galaxy devices which have been previously used, or from batteries which have already been discarded through the manufacturing process.

It is clear that the process Samsing is using to run this Circular Battery Supply Chain successfully involves several steps. These are: previously used galaxy devices being collected and then sent to recycling lines, then batteries are separated from all the collected devices, the automated separation of back glass occurs, which leads to the automated separation of batteries. From there batteries are discharged and shredded, they go through drilling, discharging and shredding. After this the extraction process of recycled cobalt commences and once this is complete, the shredded batteries must be sorted. Finally, black mass is extracted, as is cobalt. The overall result of this process is that the company is left with recycled cobalt which is almost identical to newly mined cobalt.

The purpose of this process is to use the recycled cobalt sourced from the previous Galaxy smartphones within the new Galaxy S25. All of this was made possible through a collaboration with their partners who shared similar goals and these partners played a large role. Whilst this project is a huge step forwards for the smartphone industry, especially when it comes to encouraging a circular economy, it is also an excellent way for Samsung to demonstrate their commitment to reducing e-waste and simultaneously expanding and increasing circularity.

In order to ensure that the process, once fully developed, produces an identical result each time, the team focused on putting together technical specifications, as well as processes which could be used to extract the required cobalt from the used batteries. On top of this, the team created a logistics system which would be used to safely transport batteries between the facilities.

Final steps of the process include: the production of the cathode material, manufacturing new batteries and producing the Galaxy S25 with the new batteries which are made from recycled cobalt.

Throughout the process the team discovered that the ‘recycled cobalt hydroxide boasts [a] high level of purity that is nearly identical to the cobalt from raw materials.’ They continued saying that, ‘this exceptionally high purity ensures seamless integration of new production of batteries without compromising battery performance and also quality.’