Stena recycles production scrap from Morrow Batteries

As soon as Morrow’s battery factory in Arendal, Norway, starts test production later this year, Stena Recycling will start receiving and processing scrap from the production process at its facility in Halmstad, Sweden. The parties have agreed that Stena Recycling will manage Morrow’s production scrap from the Morrow Cell Factory for the next 1.5 years.

Under the agreement, Stena Recycling will collect and store that production waste, train Morrow Cell Factory staff in relevant processes and transport the waste to Stena Recycling’s new battery recycling facility in southern Sweden. According to the company, the plant is “one of the first battery recycling plants on an industrial scale in Europe” and, thanks to the advanced recycling process, it should be possible to recover battery materials “with very high recycling rates”. However, the recycling rate is not precisely quantified, as it can also vary between the individual battery materials.

The aim of the cooperation between the two companies is to establish a fully circular battery value chain in which recycled material flows back into battery cell production. According to the announcement, both companies will also “further explore their joint interest in establishing a larger facility at Eyde Material Park in southern Norway that can process Morrow’s waste streams in combination with other streams”.

“We hope – and expect – this to be the first steppingstone in a joint wider effort to enable agile and circular battery value chains,” says Stina Torjesen, Sustainability Director at Morrow. Lars Christian Bacher, CEO of Morrow, added: “Morrow aims for low scrap rates and stable, high-quality production delivered by our skilled machine operators and manufacturing engineers. Nevertheless, some scrap volumes will need responsible handling, and we are confident that Stena Recycling is the right partner to achieve recycling excellence.”

“Morrow is focused on efficiency, sustainability, and environmental impact. To consume less resources in the form of energy and raw materials is their goal, as well as ours,” says Marcus Martinsson, Product Area Manager Batteries at Stena Recycling Group. “Together we look forward to a new circular partnership and a holistic solution to increase resource efficiency and minimize emissions.”

cision.com (Stena Recycling), morrowbatteries.com