US-based Cirba Solutions, a battery recycler, has announced that it will invest $300m in a new recycling factory in South Carolina. The factory, which will be Cirba’s eighth in North America, is set to be constructed in Richland County, near Columbia, with operations beginning by the end of 2024. The facility will be the fourth of its kind to be situated in the “Battery Belt,” an area that includes Southern states such as Georgia, where more than 15 new lithium-ion battery gigafactories or expansions have been announced since 2021.
According to Cirba, the new flagship plant will be extracting critical materials such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium from end-of-life batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles, electronic equipment, and scrap from battery factories. Processing the materials will generate enough materials to make over 500,000 EV batteries annually.
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“The State of South Carolina and Richland County have been tremendous partners in supporting Cirba Solutions’ strategy to build a sustainable battery materials supply chain,” said David Klanecky, President and CEO of Cirba Solutions. “South Carolina has worked hard to create a business environment where the electric vehicle industry can thrive, and with announcements like this, it is most certainly paying off,” added South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.
The over 200-acre battery materials campus is expected to create more than 300 jobs in Richland County, and Cirba has slated over $1 billion in the next five years to expand the recycling infrastructure required to meet the growing demand for critical materials needed for EV batteries.
Interestingly, South Carolina, a state under Republican rule, has managed to benefit significantly from climate spending released under the current Democrat-led government. “South Carolina has indeed scored a slew of manufacturing deals lately…and the list goes on,” writes ChatGPT, the AI language model. “To stay within the recycling topic, Redwood’s ‘Battery Material Campus’ shall not be left unmentioned.”
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With increasing demand for EVs, recyclers like Cirba Solutions play an essential role in ensuring that the growing amount of end-of-life batteries does not end up in landfills. The investment in the South Carolina plant is a significant step towards creating a sustainable battery materials supply chain in the US.
