Lime, E-Mobility Company, Partners With Redwood Materials To Ensure Used Batteries From Queens, The Bronx Are Responsibly Recycled After Their Usefulness Ends

This Earth Day, Lime Brings Battery Recycling to Riders in Queens and the Bronx 

New Redwood Materials partnership ensures used batteries from Lime rides in Queens and the Bronx are recycled responsibly as ridership grows

Editor’s note: The last couple of year’s Earth Day celebrations included Car-Free Earth Day, sponsored and created by NYC DOT, with the goal of everyone traveling in and to the city to use a non-car mode of transportation.  To that end, Citi Bikes have been offering free rides to residents to help the DOT reach that lofty goal.  It has also expanded Car-Free Streets for Earth Day to give kids a place to play that was formerly dominated by cars.  

Lime e-bike. Image Credit – Lime

New York, NY  — This Earth Day, Lime is bringing a new global sustainability effort home to Queens and the Bronx. As ridership climbs, Lime’s new battery recycling program in partnership with Redwood Materials will allow the company to recover and reuse materials from every end-of-life e-bike and e-scooter battery in the U.S. The partnership ensures batteries used by Lime riders in Queens and the Bronx will now be part of a circular supply chain by recycling critical materials from Lime scooter batteries.

Micromobility momentum continues in the Bronx and Queens, as Lime riders broke another record this March with 169,860 total trips, more than double the ridership of March 2024 (82,834 trips). That’s a 105% month-over-month increase from February, capping off a blockbuster first quarter for the shared micromobility company. So far in 2025, Lime riders in the Bronx and Queens have taken more than 380,000 trips, already surpassing total ridership for all of 2024.

“All of us at Lime are thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to support sustainable transportation in NYC. Together, we’ve built a program that supports the city’s climate goals, commitment to accessibility, and vision for a greener future. This Earth Day, we want New Yorkers to know that our efforts on behalf of the planet don’t start and end with each trip; but rather encompass the entire lifespan of our business, from cleaner materials, to building a more circular supply chain,” said Nicole Yearwood, Senior Manager of Government Relations at Lime.

The deal aligns with Lime’s efforts to decarbonize its business, and its 2030 net zero target, validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative, the top organization for corporate carbon target setting. Lime continues to make strides toward decarbonizing across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, already achieving a 59.5% carbon reduction in 5 years from its 2019 baseline year. Lime will report its 2024 Carbon Emissions results in May.

As of Q1, lifetime Lime ridership in NYC has surpassed 5 million trips. As a result, NYC riders have kept an estimated 1.5 million car trips off the road, saving around 600 metric tons of carbon emissions and over 254,000 gallons of gas.

As enthusiasm for micromobility continues to surge in NYC, responsible battery recycling has become all the more critical. Working with companies like Redwood Materials ensures Lime can responsibly recycle its batteries when they reach the end of their usable life. Redwood’s recycling processes ensure that more than 95% of the critical materials are recovered and reintegrated into the battery supply chain, helping Lime continue to reduce its environmental impact.

Lime has a history of sourcing alternative approaches to recycling. Even when batteries are no longer fully functional for powering transportation modes, Lime found that many individual cells often still have plenty of life left.  Lime has worked with companies like Gomi in the United Kingdom and VoltR in France and other European countries to harvest these viable cells for second life applications including for consumer electronics such as portable speakers and battery packs, among other uses.

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About Lime

Lime’s mission is to build a future where transportation is shared, affordable and carbon-free. As the world’s largest provider of shared electric vehicles, Lime partners with cities to deploy electric bikes and scooters to serve any trip under five miles. A past Time Magazine 100 Most Influential Company and Fast Company Brand that Matters, Lime has powered more than 750 million rides across five continents, spurring a new generation of clean alternatives to car ownership. Learn more at li.me.

Banner Image: Lime e-bike. Image Credit – Lime