Battery Resourcers, a lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, announced plans to open a commercial-scale, lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Covington, Georgia. The 154,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to be fully operational by August 2022, will have a capacity to recycle 30,000 metric tons of batteries each year, equal to 70,000 vehicle batteries.

Battery Resourcers said it is investing $43 million in the facility in Covington, which will bring at least 150 jobs to the community, as per the statement.  

“Automotive OEMs are sitting on mountains of discarded batteries and scrap, and right now they have very few options for responsible and cost-effective disposal,” said Michael O’Kronley, CEO and Director of Battery Resourcers in a statement. “With this convenient U.S. location and our next-generation technology, we are providing a sustainable solution to help minimise the need for mining while returning valuable, battery-grade materials back into the lithium-ion supply chain.”

O’Kronley said he wants to see the battery recycling industry bring even more recycling capacity online in the coming years. “As an industry, we need to match the capacity of the gigafactories producing millions of batteries with our own ‘gigarecycling’ facilities that can recycle millions of batteries. Our Covington facility will be the largest in North America this summer.”

“We know that Battery Resourcers had many options to consider before choosing Georgia as the location for this facility,” said Pat Wilson, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “Georgia offers important assets for business growth, such as our educated workforce, pro-business climate and high quality of life, and we are confident that these qualities – combined with our commitment to sustainability – will contribute to us working in partnership with Battery Resourcers for years to come.”

The opening of the Covington facility marks the first phase of Battery Resourcers’ strategic expansion and plans are already in motion to open an additional facility for precursor and cathode-active material production in 2023, said the company.