Stena opens new battery recycling plant in Sweden

Swedish company Stena Recycling has opened its new battery recycling facility in Halmstad, Sweden. The company also announced a new customer with the Norwegian battery company Freyr.

The inauguration comes some 16 months after the start of construction. The initial recycling capacity is 10,000 tonnes but is expected to increase in line with the growth of the market. “Within ten years, we expect to handle at least five to ten times higher volume than what we can handle today,” says Marcus Martinsson, Stena Product Area Manager Batteries.

The construction was subsidised by the Swedish government with 70.7 million kronor. That is the equivalent of about 6.3 million euros.

At the same time as the opening of the new plant, Stena has also announced a new customer: An agreement has been reached with the Norwegian company Freyr Battery for the recycling of used batteries from its customer qualification plant – with the option to include Freyr’s large “Giga Arctic” plant in the future.

In addition to Freyr’s deliveries, the Swedish recycling plant will process battery material collected and pre-treated at all of Stena’s existing facilities and processes in Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Finland, Norway, Germany and Italy.

“The electrification of society has only just begun, and we want to boost a circular approach to battery production,” says Martinsson. “What we are doing with our battery recycling initiative is creating the conditions to add the circular perspective, by stimulating the reuse and recycling of lithium-ion batteries.”

Freyr also wants to promote that. Yesterday, the Norwegian company announced an international collaboration with Glencore, Caterpillar, Siemens and Nidec to drive the deployment of sustainable battery solutions in Europe and North America.

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