Poland is set to host the EU's first recycling plant for both car batteries and other metals which contain waste as part of the bloc's response to the rapid rise of electric vehicles.
Elemental Holdings
The company running the project is Elemental Holding, which specialises in the collection and recycling of electrical waste and platinum-group metals.
Based in the town of Grodzisk Mazowiecki in central Poland, Elemental Holding will receive a €25 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to construct the new facility which will treat spent lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other waste containing metals which are vital for eMobility.
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EBRD Manufacturing and Services Director Frederic Lucenet described the project as a shining example of how new technology and progress is working hand in hand with the green economy.
"The EBRD is actively supporting Poland’s ambitious agenda to become a low-carbon economy and has already financed several large e-mobility projects with domestic and foreign investors," said Lucenet.
Elemental Holding Vice President Michal Zygmunt said that the project was a reflection of his company's strategy of focusing on the recovery and refining of critical raw materials to be applied in low-carbon tech and innovations.
The company says that the new recycling plant will deploy state-of-the-art technology which is supplemented and partly financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) with the additional support of the European Commission.
The facility will also produce secondary metals and other materials which can be reused as raw materials in new batteries or in other applications - a service which the EBRD said is "essential" for the lithium-ion battery value chain.
The Bank added that the batteries are a core component of electric vehicles, sales of which look certain to quickly overtake those of combustion engine-powered vehicles as the transition to a low-carbon economy accelerates.
In 2019, the European Commission produced a report which was critical of Poland for its low municipal recycling rate of 44%, which fell short of the EU's 50% target. The project is being seen as a bid by Warsaw to shake off its reputation as one of Europe's big polluters.
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According to the EBRD, the new battery recycling facility will help cut emissions in Poland and across the EU, as well as providing support for the eMobility sector's circular economy. The production and use of recycled batteries and metals can lead to carbon savings of as much as 98% compared with their primary counterparts, as well as being a more efficient use of scarce natural resources.
Reusing lithium-ion batteries is seen as a critical part of the transition to a low-carbon economy. Lithium - which is a core component on electric vehicles, laptops, tablets and smartphones, is a reactive alkali metal, the extraction of which takes a serious toll on the environment.
In South America's Lithium Triangle, which covers parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, 1.9 million litres of water is used to mine one tonne of lithium.
There are also reports of the mineral's leakage into water supplies near factories, while Friends of the Earth says lithium extraction harms the soil and causes air contamination.
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