The Swedish Energy Agency supports Stena Recycling's major investment in battery recycling

Stena Recycling is now intensifying its work on the construction of the new recycling plant in Halmstad. The facility is expected to initially handle around 10,000 tonnes of batteries per year. This will include lithium-ion batteries from electric cars as well as industrial and consumer products. In addition, battery centers are being established around Europe to ensure an infrastructure for collecting the batteries.

“We are very pleased that the Swedish Energy Agency has granted our application and see it as important and natural to contribute to closing the loop of valuable materials contained in batteries. We are introducing an advanced technology and it is exciting that we are now breaking new ground and setting the standard in battery recycling. Our goal is to have the plant operational in the first quarter of 2023," says Fredrik Pettersson, CEO of Stena Recycling Sweden.

“Electrification is a crucial piece of the puzzle in the work for a fossil-free society where batteries will be a central part of the future energy system. This important project means that we can create a battery value chain that is sustainable and circular from environmentally and climate- smart production to recycling, so we are not just shifting emissions from one activity to another," says the Swedish Energy Agency's Director General Robert Andrén.

Stena Recycling's investment in battery recycling aims to meet the substantial increase of batteries predicted in society, and to stay ahead of the EU directive that is scheduled to come into force from 2025. The directive will impose stricter requirements on battery recycling and the recovery of valuable materials such as cobalt, lithium and nickel, which in turn will reduce the need for the extraction of virgin minerals and metals.

“The recycling of lithium-ion batteries is a fast-growing challenge for society and must be improved through increased capacity and other more climate-smart technologies. With our size, infrastructure, customer base and expertise, we can create circular solutions that reduce the overall climate footprint by ensuring that more batteries are collected and recycled in an appropriate way," Fredrik Pettersson ends.