Battery start-up Britishvolt and mining giant Glencore are to build a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Northfleet, Kent. The firms say the aim is to create, “a genuinely circular economy that supplies recycled materials and minerals back into the battery supply chain.”

Britishvolt is looking to manufacture sustainable, low carbon lithium-ion battery cells and recently secured huge funding for its planned ‘gigafactory’ on the site of the former Blyth Power Station coal stocking yard in Northumberland.

Production is scheduled to get underway in 2024

Glencore had already invested an undisclosed sum in the firm a year earlier in a deal will ensure a long-term supply of cobalt – a key ingredient in EV batteries.

The two firms have now announced plans for a new recycling plant at the Britannia Refined Metals operation (BRM), which is owned by Glencore.

“Both companies are united in their ambition to further the energy and mobility transition,” commented Glencore’s head cobalt trader, David Brocas.

“Glencore has decades of recycling experience across multiple disciplines (e-waste/copper scrap/battery). This recycling partnership complements our long-term supply agreement for responsible cobalt from our operations in Norway and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We believe the opportunity to utilise BRM’s operations as a cutting-edge battery recycling facility will help support the development of a UK battery recycling industry. It will also play a part in furthering the UK’s climate ambitions as well as Glencore’s as we work towards net zero total emissions by 2050.”

The facility is expected to be up and running by the middle of next year and should have a processing capacity of at least 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries per year, which equates to around 50,000 electric car batteries.

Most UK companies currently export used batteries to Europe and other parts of the world for recycling and material recovery. As a consequence, transportation accounts for around a third of the cost of processing.

Precious metal recovery specialists RSBruce set up the UK’s first electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling service last year.