WESTBORO, Mass. — Over the course of the next decade, tens of millions of American drivers are expected to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle. But there's a problem lingering over this expanding industry: what to do with old electric vehicle batteries?

Mike O’Kronley has an answer.

O'Kronley is a battery guy and also the CEO of a company called Ascend Elements. They are at the forefront of electric vehicle battery recycling, an industry that has gained a lot of attention in recent years.

"We’re trying to find new ways to capture those materials and return them back into new batteries, and make that circular economy," O'Kronley said from inside the company's headquarters in Westboro, Massachusetts.

By the end of the decade, hundreds of millions of electric vehicles are expected to be on the road, dramatically decreasing the carbon emissions the US produces.

But there's a problem. As electric vehicles manufactured 10 years ago reach the end of their life, their batteries could end up in landfills, potentially releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere.

That’s where all the engineers and scientists at Ascend Elements come in. They have figured out a way to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries into new ones that are longer-lasting and could be recycled into batteries in perpetuity.

"We have to develop new ways of recycling these materials otherwise we’ll continue to destroy our planet," O'Kronley said.

O’Kronley sees the issue of electric vehicle battery recycling as one which has to be dealt with now. By 2030, nearly 145 million electric vehicles are expected to be on the road. That’s up from 11 million in 2021.

"There’s a need and it’s not just a want. It’s a need to conserve our resources, to capture these critical elements, these critical materials and transform them and use them over and over again," he added.

There’s another layer to all of this. Most materials in an electric battery are imported. By recycling electric vehicle batteries here in the United States, Mike O’Kronley believes it could increase the country’s energy independence.

"Once we get those elements imported into the country we certainly don’t want to lose them."

The death of an LGBTQ advocate and brother of a former Miami mayor is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said, after his body was discovered in a Florida landfill.

Jorge Diaz-Johnston, a plaintiff in a historic same-sex marriage lawsuit against Miami-Dade County in 2014, was found dead at a Jackson County landfill on Jan. 8, the Tallahassee Police Department said.

The body had been in trash collected from an Okaloosa County landfill that morning and transported to Jackson County by a garbage transportation company, according to a statement released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

The 54-year-old was last seen Jan. 3 in Tallahassee, police said.

Diaz-Johnston and his husband Don Johnston were one of six couples who filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County in 2014 challenging Florida's ban on same-sex marriage. A Miami-Dade circuit judge ruled in the couples' favor in 2015.

"There are just no words for the loss of my beloved husband Jorge Isaias Diaz-Johnston," Johnston wrote on social media Wednesday. "He touched so many people with his kind and generous heart."

Manny Diaz, chair of the Florida Democratic Party and the mayor of Miami from 2001-2009, released a statement thanking police and city officials who worked to locate his brother and investigate the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

"I am profoundly appreciative of the outpouring of support shown to me, my brother-in-law Don, and my family after the loss of my brother, Jorge Diaz-Johnston. My brother was such a special gift to this world whose heart and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come," the statement said.

The investigation into Diaz-Johnston's death is ongoing, the Tallahassee Police Department said. Investigators asked for those with any information to contact detectives.