Lithium Australia Ltd (ASX:LIT, OTC:LMMFF)’s wholly-owned subsidiary Envirostream has been awarded the first rebate from the B-Cycle end-of-life (EOL) battery collecting, sorting and recycling scheme.
B-Cycle is an industry-led organisation accredited by the Australian Government that is operating the nation’s official product stewardship scheme for EOL batteries.
Envirostream is an accredited collector, sorter and recycler of batteries and has worked closely with B-Cycle to implement the necessary requirements for the scheme.
This first rebate is a material validation of the extensive efforts Lithium Australia and Envirostream have made to date.
“Major opportunity for Envirostream”
"It is estimated that over 90% of lithium-ion batteries in Australia are currently disposed into landfill with the potential to pollute our land and waterways,” Lithium Australia chief financial officer Stuart Tarrant said.
“Fortunately, recycle rates are increasing presenting a major opportunity for Envirostream to process these volumes in a safe and efficient way, recovering the critical minerals for repurposing into new lithium-ion batteries.
“It is hugely rewarding to receive the first rebate from B-Cycle, and we anticipate further revenues as we seek to capture the growing wave of spent batteries.”
Envirostream has established and is actively growing partnerships with reputable companies to increase the volume of batteries for recycling, quickly growing a national network of over 700 accredited B-Cycle drop-off locations with its partners.
This partnership network also includes electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, a market sector Envirostream intends to tackle over the next decade.
LIT has begun work to ensure EV batteries can be efficiently dismantled and recycled, undertaking several trials with different EV manufacturers to recycle battery cells and collect data.
The company says the knowledge gained by Envirostream is important to ensure readiness for the expected increase in future EV volumes.