European battery policy requires mandatory recycling by 2031.

The business model assumes recovered materials hold economic value.

Sodium-ion batteries contain sodium, manganese or iron, and hard carbon.

All commodity materials with low unit value.

Sodium trades at a fraction of lithium's price because it's the sixth most abundant element on Earth.

European recyclers already struggle to make LFP recycling profitable.

Sodium-ion has even less recoverable value.

The economic case for recycling sodium-ion batteries does not exist at current material prices.

Europe demands that recycling be economically self-sustaining while also mandating it by law.

The policy and the chemistry are incompatible.