The US lead recycling industry will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to comply with tightening environmental rules but the pressure of rising costs eventually may force some output cuts or closures, according to industry experts.

Some firms in the U.S., particularly those without well-established collection systems for old batteries, may struggle long term as new domestic lead smelter capacity comes on line, increasing competition for an already limited pool of the feed.

"I think it's inevitable, the situation is going to become unsustainable. You can't just continue with that trend of higher costs of producing secondary lead and more smelting capacity chasing that scrap," said Neil Hawkes of industry consultants CRU Group.