They didn't pay for the processing.. We ignore a lot of cost when selling a product, and particularly the cost of recycling, which start to be a huge issue taking in account the amount of waste produced..

This gives us the feeling that electricity is almost free and green, while in the meantime we damage entire area through lithium mining (E.g https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/business/lithium-mining-r...)