Strong words, but you didn’t cite any sources. What are the “scientific first principles” that support your claim? Lead acid batteries are entirely different materials and chemistry, e.g. lead retains its quality through secondary smelting.[1]
Why do I need cite sources? I'm not here to teach you basic chemistry. It is neither remarkable nor controversial that that nearly all of the materials within a lithium ion battery are very highly recyclable—infinitely recyclable with respect to metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper. Redwood Materials are already recycling 20,000 tonnes per year, including production scrap from the Panasonic-Tesla factory in Nevada, with recovery rates currently between 95 and 98 percent.
The only missing piece to achieving scale is a pipeline of recyclable material; this will obviously exist once electric cars begin to age out in sufficient quantity.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/092134...