UK firm starts lead battery recycling operations

United Kingdom-based Technology Minerals PLC says the new Recyclus Group Ltd. lead-acid battery recycling facility in Tipton, England, (in which it owns a 49 percent stake) has processed its first 19 metric tons of end-of-life batteries.

The U.K. firm says the batteries were “manually processed and recycled into 16.5 metric tons of lead, lead plate and other recovered materials.”

Technology Minerals says the Recyclus facility is licensed for manual recycling activities while awaiting U.K. Environmental Agency approval for “automated industrial-scale processing.”

The firm says its current process recycles batteries into separate constituent parts to recover lead, acid and plastic materials. Recyclus is “in discussions with several potential buyers for the recycled materials and will update the market in due course.”

As announced this September, Recyclus received Approved Battery Treatment Operator (ABTO) status for the Tipton plant at that time, granting approval to begin manual processing of lead-acid batteries at the site.

“We are delighted to process the first batch of end-of-life batteries as Recyclus looks to ramp up its operations at the recycling plant in Tipton," says Robin Brundle, board chair of Technology Minerals. "We have seen strong demand for the recovered materials and look forward to securing first sales and generating cashflow at Tipton.”