In recent years, the number of products using lithium-ion batteries has been increasing, and the number of fires in waste collection and transportation vehicles and waste treatment facilities caused by heat generation and ignition during the waste treatment process has been increasing sharply.
Currently, lithium-ion batteries discarded from households are collected through collection routes by manufacturers and other organizations pursuant to the Act on Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, as well as by municipalities. However, collection and processing by local governments faces challenges such as a small number of processing companies and high processing costs.
In response to this, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government conducted a trial run of the “Large-area Resource Recycling Model Project for Lithium-ion Batteries, etc.” in October 2024 and from December 2024 to January 2025, in which the Tokyo Metropolitan Government coordinated the collection of lithium-ion batteries on a regional basis when the amount collected by a single municipality was small and they were unable to purchase them as resources, and consolidated the batteries from multiple wards, cities, towns, and villages to sell them as resources to resource recycling companies.
Based on the results of this project, we called for collaboration companies to carry out this project in fiscal year 2025, and we are pleased to announce that the companies have been selected as follows. Through this project, we will support the collection and processing of lithium-ion batteries by wards, cities, towns, and villages, and promote recycling.

1　Overview of the project

Lithium-ion batteries and other items will be collected from local governments and administrative associations in the Tokyo wards and Tama region that wish to participate, and will be purchased and recycled.

2　Collaborating businesses

VOLTA Inc. (55-1 Ono, Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture)

3　Project implementation period

From the time of signing the agreement with the collaborating business until March 2026
*Reference: “Don’t mix and throw away lithium-ion batteries!” project (PDF: 530KB)

This project is an initiative to promote the “Tokyo 2050 Strategy.”
Strategy 20: Zero-emission “Transition to a Circular Economy”

Contact: General Waste Control Division, Resource Recycling Promotion Department, Environment Bureau Phone: 03-5388-3581