Li-Cycle has announced plans to build a fourth commercial battery recycling facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This facility will add to the capacity of the Kingston, Ontario and Rochester, New York plants. The company’s Gilbert, Arizona facility is still under construction. 

Univar Solutions will be an anchor battery feed supply customer for the new facility. Li-Cycle previously announced an on-site partnership with Univar to provide waste management solutions for the company’s battery manufacturing. Li-Cycle’s new facility will have an initial capacity of up to 5,000 tons of battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries per year, bringing its total North American recycling capacity to 25,000 tons per year. The Tuscaloosa site is also being developed to accommodate a future, second 5,000-ton processing line. It is projected to commence operations by 2022.

“Originally, we had planned on rolling out three commercial facilities in North America over the next five years, with a total recycling capacity of 20,000 tons per year,” said Tim Johnston, Executive Chairman of Li-Cycle. “However, demand for lithium-ion battery recycling has continued to outperform our forecasts and we are now forecasting a total recycling capacity of 30,000 tons per year. This facility is essential in filling a recycling gap in the southeastern United States. We expect the new facility to have the capability to process entire vehicle battery packs, without dismantling.”

Source: Li-Cycle