SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): Westborough, Mass.-headquartered Ascend Elements announced grand opening of its first commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Covington, Georgia. This is the largest electric vehicle battery recycling facility in the entire North American region.
The facility had commenced partial operations in August last year. The plant now has a capacity to process 30,000 metric tons of used lithium-ion batteries. It uses a proprietary technology that recovers up to 98% of the critical battery metals in used electric vehicle batteries and gigafactory manufacturing scrap.
The facility is powered by renewable energy and features onsite wastewater recycling and treatment systems.
The facility currently offers around 100 jobs, which the company plans to increase to up to 185 by end of next year.
Commenting on the development, Ascend Elements CEO Mike O'Kronley said that the Georgia facility is an important part of America's EV battery infrastructure. It marks the beginning of a long journey. The industry needs to build on its closed-loop battery materials supply chain to make electric vehicle batteries cleaner and more sustainable, O'Kronley added.
