SK tes opens plant to recycle electric vehicle batteries in Rotterdam port area

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International battery recycling company SK tes is opening a new battery recycling facility in the Rotterdam port area. This facility recycles spent lithium batteries, electric vehicle batteries and battery production scrap to recover crucial raw materials. The company is thus meeting increasing market demand for materials for battery production, especially for electric vehicles.

The plant processes battery production scrap, waste electric vehicle batteries and recalled batteries. SK tes extracts ‘black mass’, an intermediate-processed product containing rare metals including lithium, cobalt and nickel that is fed back into the battery supply chain. By recovering valuable materials from used batteries SK tes mitigates the environmental impact of batteries disposal and supports the growing demand for scarce raw materials required for manufacturing new batteries. 

The opening of this recycling plant fits squarely within the Port of Rotterdam's sustainability plans. The Netherlands aims to have a circular economy by 2050. The industry will need to reuse and recycle much more so we continue to have enough raw materials, stop damage to nature and the environment, and don’t release more CO2 into the air by burning waste. The Netherlands and Europe will also be less dependent on the rest of the world. Opening the SK tes plant is an important step in achieving this.

The plant is equipped to process up to 10,000 tonnes of material annually and plans to double this capacity by expanding onto an adjacent plot. The new Rotterdam facility is initially spanning 10,000 square meters with potential expansion to 40,000 square meters.