I know the battery for the Volt should have the life span of almost 10 years, but I was wondering what would be the environment impact of disposing of those batteries.

They should be almost entirely recycleable.

Materials cost will dominate the cost of making these batteries, so they will be recycled for the copper, aluminum, and lithium alone.

To be able to recycle them and to actually have the infra/process/program to do so are 2 different thing... too often people realised the impact when they throw them away... It would be nice for GM or the battery vendors to actually come up with a plan from day 1.

Prius batteries are completely recycleable and Toyota offers a $200 bounty on the batteries. I don't see why either NiMH or Li-ion batteries made by anyone or used in almost any application would not or could not be recycleable.

Chevy should probably try to mimic some of the good behavior already in the market when the Volt hits.