TES Agrees on Deal for 10,000 sqm Battery Recycling Facility in Europe

Singapore-based provider of sustainable technology lifecycle and IT services, TES has announced it has agreed to a deal that secures the future of a 10,000 square meter lithium battery recycling facility in the Port Of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest seaport.

The facility, strategically located adjacent to the waterways of the Port of Rotterdam and with an option to extend onto a neighboring plot that will increase the site to over 40,000 square meters, already has a basic waste license to receive, store and forward lithium batteries and to manage electric vehicle (EV) batteries and battery production scrap as well as a license to shred alkaline batteries.

The site extension is planned to be fully operational by late 2022 and will be the first lithium battery recycling plant in the Netherlands, complementing the two other TES lithium battery recycling facilities in Grenoble (France) and Singapore.

This deal is part of an ongoing commitment from TES to improve the collection and recycling of portable and industrial batteries in Europe and supports the European Union’s goals laid out in the European Green Deal.

It is also a strategic move in preparation for the huge rise in global demand for lithium batteries as car manufacturers increase their electric vehicle outputs, which are predicted to increase 14 fold by 2030.

According to figures from the European Commission, the EU could account for 17% of the global demand for lithium batteries by 2030, the second-highest share worldwide.

Speaking on the facility, the Global Vice President of Battery Operations at TES, Thomas Holberg stated, “We have the vision to be a global sustainability innovator, and our unwavering ambition to turn the Port of Rotterdam site into a state-of-the-art European battery recycling facility is key in delivering that strategy.”

“Once up and running, we will have up to 10,000 tonnes of shredding capacity per year and a subsequent hydrometallurgical process which focuses on the recovery of nickel, cobalt, and lithium as a precursor feedstock for the battery industry,” he added.

“We are working not only towards a net-zero CO2 emission port and industry in 2050 but also looking at ways to make the industry more circular. The TES project in Rotterdam is exactly that. This could very well become the largest European facility for recycling batteries from electric cars,” said Mr. Allard Castelein, CEO at the Port of Rotterdam.