$43M battery recycling plant to plug in

Battery Resourcers plans to build Atlanta-area processing facility, hire 150 people

ATLANTA — A company that aims to recycle lithium ion batteries from vehicles and otherelectronics will build its first large plant in suburban Atlanta, investing $43 million and hiring 150 people.

Battery Resourcers, based in Worcester, Mass., said it would take over an existing building in Covington and ramp up to full operation by August.

The company is betting that the battery supply chain, now concentrated in Asia, is about to spread out to other regions, and that its recycling process will be cleaner and cheaper than mining new materials.

“Automotive manufacturers are sitting on mountains of discarded batteries and scrap, and right now they have very few options for responsible and cost-effective disposal,” Battery Resourcers Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Kronley said in a statement Wednesday.

Battery Resourcers will take apart, discharge and shred batteries and then process the shredded material, producing metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese, as well as graphite and other engineered ingredients for new batteries.

The company uses methods that it says can recover more than 97% of metals with zero toxic waste, producing material that outperforms newly mined ingredients.

The Covington plant will have a capacity to recycle 33,000 tons of batteries each year, equal to 70,000 vehicle batteries, the company says.

It’s the latest link in an electric-vehicle supply chain that Georgia officials are trying to create. SK Innovation is building a $2.6 billion, 2,600-worker battery plant in Commerce, northeast of Atlanta. And last month, electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive announced it would build a $5 billion battery and assembly plant just east of Covington that’s projected to employ 7,500 workers.

Roger Lin, the company’s vice president of marketing & government affairs. said the company is getting a “competitive” incentive package. Battery Resourcers could claim various tax breaks, including an income tax credit allowing it to annually deduct $3,000 per job from state income taxes, up to $2.25 million over five years, as long as workers make at least $28,000 a year. The company could also get local property tax breaks.