uk battery recycling plant


Reducing the impact of battery recycling

Until now the UK has been exporting the majority of its batteries for treatment overseas to ensure it meets the EU recycling targets, due to a lack of facilities on UK soil. This included shipping our waste to countries such as Poland, France and Germany.

Saving a weighty carbon cost

Batteries are extremely harmful to the environment and to human health due to the dangerous chemicals and metals contained within them. Whilst we work hard to increase the collections of used batteries, the battery recycling process itself is often overlooked.
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Recycling batteries involves sorting collected batteries into the different chemistry types, which can either be done using an optical sorter or by hand.

The sorted batteries are then taken to a treatment centre where they are shredded up and the materials separated by various recovery processes. Shipping our battery waste abroad comes with a weighty carbon and financial cost as large trucks, lorries and containers are used to transport the batteries to their final recycling destination overseas. This is why we have supported the UK's first comprehensive battery recycling plant, to recycle as much of our battery waste in the UK as possible.

A key partnership

Through our partnership with Belmont Trading UK Ltd, a global leader in secure and sustainable reuse, recycling and material recovery solutions, we are establishing a UK based recycling plant to sort, process and recycle waste batteries domestically. Belmont provides innovative, sustainable, and secure global asset management and value recovery solutions for batteries, mobile devices, telecom and computing equipment, and other electronic equipment.


Capacity to cover the UK's waste requirements

The battery plant will ultimately be able to process up to 20,000 tonnes of batteries per annum, covering the UK's entire battery waste requirements - meaning the UK can become virtually self-sufficient in battery recycling as the country prepares to leave the EU.

Importantly it has the potential to halt the UK's shipment of batteries to Europe for recycling, therefore dramatically reducing the country's waste export bill. Costs could also reduce for producers, due to the fact that export rates will no longer be included in the cost of complying with their battery obligations.

The UK pant will initially have the capacity to deal with around 80% of the country's waste batteries, with future plans to process domestic lithium-ion batteries, bringing the total percentage of used batteries able to be recycled at the plant to 90%.


capacity to recycle 20,000 tonnes of batteries

including 80% of portable battery types

Battery collections

By partnering with local contractors and national operators, we provide whole UK coverage for the collection of batteries with a quick turnaround, built on established operations and years of experience. And it goes without saying that our waste batteries are treated in the UK.
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"We look forward to helping domestic battery producers extract maximum economic value with minimum environmental impact by recycling in the UK.” Jeff Borrman Photo Jeff Borrman UK managing director, Belmont Trading UK Limited

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