It's not a simple process, in action, and it can be rather hazardous to health and the environment. The upside is that it doesn't have to be this way. Factories that recycle Lead from car batteries are specialized to minimize exposure to workers and produce high quality lead in high yields. The amount of lead that is recycled to use in new batteries is approximately 80% of all lead batteries sold. A big reason for this is that Lead is toxic and 10 kilograms of lead, sulfuric acid and salts of lead are very bad for the environment.