battery recycling is like trying to reclaim jam and cream from a Victoria sponge after shredding

Categories: Comparisons

An example of an analogy used to explain in science:

"Traditionally, battery recycling is not particularly sophisticated, chemically speaking, [Emma Kendrick, a battery researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK] explains. 'Often you stick it in the shredder, and then you try and sort it out later.' …

'There's a need for redesign, to start thinking about what happens to these batteries at the end of life and how we can more easily disassemble them and reclaim pure material waste streams,' says Kendrick. 'Because right now, we put all this effort into creating highly engineered cells and then stick them in a shredder.' …

Kendrick said battery recycling now is 'a bit like making a Victoria sponge cake, then sticking the entire thing through a shredder and hoping to reclaim the jam and cream'."

Professor Emma Kendrick, School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham, was being quoted in,

Anthony King (2023) Battery recyclers race to increase capacity and efficiency, Chemistry World, 20 (5), https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/battery-recyclers-race-to-increase-capacity-and-efficiency/4017302.article

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Many examples of science analogies are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.