• Allero@lemmy.today
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      4 hours ago

      Lithium is relatively rare, and very environmentally damaging to mine. Recycling is absolutely a must, but, as with any recycling, the recovery is not 100%. Of course, greater harm comes with large-scale applications like cars (lithium batteries are part of why electric cars are NOT eco-friendly vehicles they’re often advertised to be) and home/grid power storage, but reducing the harm where possible is essential.

      Sodium is obviously hugely abundant and we already have relatively eco-friendly salt mining for many centuries.