Abstract: A process and apparatus for recovery of constituent materials from lead acid batteries is shown in which the battery is dismantled in a stepwise procedure under which the materials are separated, not mixed and in particular in which the grid groups are removed from the battery case and processed in a liquid, preferably water, by hydrodynamic and mechanical agitation to cause the paste material to be freed from the grids and enter the water as a mixture of fine particles while the lead grid pieces drop to the bottom. The process does not require burning or chemical reaction and can selectively recover all constituent materials including, without limitation, high quality marketable lead dioxide from the paste material.