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Scotland’s first fully functioning battery recycling plant which could handle up to 12000 tonnes of battery waste every year, is extending its dismantling lines to prepare for the disassembly of an increasing number of electric vehicle (EV) batteries (Li-Ion), as the uptake of electric vehicles increases across the UK.
Belmont Trading UK’s Kilwinning Plant in Ayrshire currently recycles all types of domestic and industrial batteries, handling a large percentage of the UK’s battery recycling, with the remaining volumes destined for refineries in Europe and the US.As the UK looks increasingly towards a future where the general automotive and industrial plant/equipment industries shift towards increasing their footprint in electric vehicle sales, Belmont has recently revamped its 25,000 sq ft recycling facility workspace, investing £300,000 on plant and equipment in conjunction with Urecycle Oy Oulu, Finland and Karlskoga, Sweden, to sort and shred thousands of batteries every day.
New dismantling lines
Moreover, these new dismantling lines are designed to cope with the disassembly of Lithium Li-lon EV batteries, so prevalent in electric cars, forklift trucks, electric golf trolleys and e-bikes amongst others.
Jeff Bormann, managing director of Belmont Trading UK explains:
“The rising number of electric vehicles comes along with an increasing demand for Li-Ion batteries and we are already starting to work with the automotive and telecoms industry on its recycling strategies for these batteries.
“Elements within these batteries such as cobalt and nickel are valuable, so it is economically worthwhile to recycle EV batteries.
”Whilst this can be quite a time and cost consuming process, it has to be planned properly, hence our move to adapt our industrial plant to prepare for the increase in EV battery numbers which we anticipate will increase markedly in the coming years.
“The key at all times, is to extract maximum value with minimum environmental impact by recycling in the UK.”
