Originally from the Materials Handling Industry selling electric forklifts, I got involved in Battery Recycling about six years ago. Working now as an Independent Waste Broker, I put clients with batteries to dispose of in contact with suitable Waste Processors, (whether that's Lead, NiCad, Lithium-Ion or otherwise) and manage the process from collection to payment with all the required Waste Admin Paperwork in place.
Lead is an infinitely recyclable material and normally a rebate is paid to the client. Other Chemistries are not quite the same and thus a charge is made to deal with such. Lithium ion also has its own challenges as there can be safety concerns while in use, being stored or in an early failure/end-of-life state.
With Lithium-Ion, there is a growing network of companies and individuals who are working to make recycling much easier and safer, a community that I am part of and the collective desire to solve these problems is something we all enjoy being involved in.
I am in a position to give advice on the safe transportation and storage during use and prior to recycling but also to advise that when an early battery fails, there is perhaps another solution to recycling as younger batteries with failures can also potentially be repaired, a lot cheaper than recycling and re-use is always better than recycling both economically and environmentally.