As Li pollution is a relatively new pollution that has only appeared in the past 2 to 3 decades, the attention it receives remains limited. Today, only a few countries such as Australia (Shen et al., 2020), have identified and listed Li as a pollutant in water. Li is also missing from the list of pollutants tested to qualify water as safe drinking water published by PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency (Public Utilities Board, n.d.) (Figure 1). With the growing concentration of Li to levels no longer negligible in the environment, it is necessary to include Li as a pollutant in indicators (Shen et al., 2020). 
Figure 1: Singapore Drinking Water Quality (Jul 2021 – Jun 2022) (Public Utilities Board, n.d.)
Besides the lack of Li indicators, there is also a lack of standards and regulations imposed on lithium-ion battery producers. Despite having over a decade of production history in China, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment only issued the Technical Specification of Pollution Control for Treatment of Waste Power Lithium-ion Battery at the end of 2021 (AOKI, 2021). On the other hand, places where the lithium-ion battery industry is still very young such as Australia does not have related regulations and standards for new battery factories yet (ERAC, n.d.). Very often, places that lack a national standard for battery manufacturing will refer to overseas standards such as CE standards required by the European Union (EU, 2022) (Figure 2).
Figure 2: CE sign (American Society for Quality, n.d.)
However, as these are just references, factories are not legally required to abide by these standards. Without proper enforcement, Li waste material can easily escape into the environment polluting water sources consumed and used for agriculture. Drinking Li-polluted water for prolonged periods can have detrimental health impacts.
Moving back to Singapore, although Singapore does not currently have a lithium-ion battery of its own, Singapore continues to rely heavily on lithium-ion battery-powered devices and machines. In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, The Singapore Green Plan 2030 campaigns to raise awareness and promote electric vehicles to the public (LTA, 2022) (Figure 3).
The Singapore Green Plan 2030 includes a strong push to electrify our vehicle population, which would help Singapore achieve our vision of 100% cleaner energy vehicles by 2040. – LTA, 2022
Figure 3: Power EVery Move campaign logo (LTA, 2022)
This move towards EVs will no doubt significantly increase the use and disposal of lithium-ion batteries. Currently, little information can be found online about the recycling and management of these lithium-ion batteries in Singapore. To promote the use of these batteries, Tan (2020), Director of the Waste and Resource Management Department National Environment Agency (NEA), has even gone on to state that
Lithium-ion batteries are not hazardous, while nickel metal hydride batteries are hermetically sealed to prevent materials within the batteries from escaping into the environment.
However, Li does have impacts on the environment and humans when consumed and lithium-ion batteries do contain nickel and other heavy metals in its cathode etc. (Yan et al., 2020). Given the increase in the concentration of Li in rivers in Shanghai and other major cities due to the increase in lithium-ion batteries (Shen et al., 2020), Singapore must ensure that proper regulations are set in place to ensure that these batteries are properly recycled and disposed of.
Reference List
American Society for Quality. (n.d.). What is CE Marking? – CE Mark Certification vs. Self Declaration | ASQ. https://asq.org/quality-resources/ce-marking
AOKI, K. (2021, September 17). China issues technical standards to control pollution from treatment of EVs’ waste lithium-ion batteries | Enviliance ASIA. Enviliacne ASIA. https://enviliance.com/regions/east-asia/cn/report_4282
ERAC. (n.d.). Standards – ERAC. https://www.erac.gov.au/standards/
EU. (2022). CE marking – obtaining the certificate, EU requirements. Your Europe. https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/product-requirements/labels-markings/ce-marking/index_en.htm
LTA. (2022, April). LTA | Electric Vehicles. https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltagov/en/industry_innovations/technologies/electric_vehicles.html
Public Utilities Board. (n.d.). Singapore Drinking Water Quality. In Public Utilities Board. https://www.pub.gov.sg/Documents/Singapore_Drinking_Water_Quality.pdf
Shen, J., Li, X., Shi, X., Wang, W., Zhou, H., Wu, J., Wang, X., & Li, J. (2020). The toxicity of lithium to human cardiomyocytes. Environmental Sciences Europe, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-020-00333-6
Tan, D. (2020, April). Readers’ Letters. National Environment Agency. https://www.nea.gov.sg/media/readers-letters/index/nea-ensures-that-all-e-waste-recyclers-have-the-necessary-pollution-control-equipment-to-meet-nea-s-emissions-and-discharge-standards
Yan, W., Yang, S., Huang, Y., Yang, Y., & Guohui Yuan. (2020). A review on doping/coating of nickel-rich cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 819, 153048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.153048