Recycling is a great initiative.
But, Apple still needs to be sued big time for releasing old batteries to Chinese dealers that then sell them as new or brand new with some new brand sticker wrapped around them. Many are selling the old batteries that are removed from old iPhones with stickers that mentions higher mAh. You peel of the sticker and you see an original battery that is not just only old but also used.
If the numbers were in just in thousands, it could be coming from small repair shops.
But, there are hundreds of thousands of such batteries available in the markets all over the world.
There is noway they can come from small shops, they must be coming from Apple recycling or refurbishing factories and Apple's partners, only.
Apple should destroy the old batteries rather than selling them to others.
These batteries are good for nothing.
There are very few companies that makes new batteries for iPhones apart from other phones and only those come with 0 or 1digit cycles on them.
Check on Amazon.com, please check the reviews and you will know what I am talking about.
There are thousands on eBay.com, too.
In US, particularly on Amazon, there are other brands that seem to sell legit batteries (as we found out looking at the reviews), ScandiTech, U repair, etc.
I was in India 2 years back when I needed my iPhone 5's battery to be replaced. My phone wasn't eligible for the replacement program. So, I had to do repairs on my on as batteries available with local repair shops were also the same that I saw on all websites.
I'd searched Indian websites during that time, and it was flooded with the old batteries, too.
e.g. eBay.in, flipkart.com, amazon.in, etc.
After searching for long time, I'd finally found one on eBay.com (.com and not .in). It was shipping from China but, was by an OEM manufacturer called MPJ batteries. And it was coming directly from the manufacture as the eBay store that listed it was by the manufacturer itself. I'd decided to trust that seller and manufacturer because, even though there were no reviews on iPhone 5 battery from MPJ batteries, I saw a lot of videos on youtube reviewing the MPJ batteries for many different Android phones. I'd also found out that MPJ batteries were known for its higher capacity batteries for Android phones. And also, it was the only option available for me in India at that time that would ship to India without a premium shipping price (in case if I ordered something from a USA seller, I would have end up paying shipping price that could be 3 times the price of the battery).
Luckily the battery I had ordered was legit, with 0 cycles on it.
Following are the examples of old batteries that are sold as new ones.
http://www.amazon.com/1440-BELTRON-Replacement-Battery-iPhone/dp/B00W423J8W/ref=pd_sim_107_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41r-2WxgY6L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL480_SR360,480_&refRID=0VVK28M5PW9M5ARY033S
http://www.amazon.com/REDGO-1440mah...sr=1-21&keywords=iphone+5+replacement+battery