South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) announced it has signed an agreement to establish a battery recycling joint venture with French scrap metal recycler Derichebourg SA (DBG). This will be LGES’ first involvement in battery recycling in Europe, as the company looks to expand its “closed-loopresource circulation system” into Europe
The two companies plan to establish a 50:50 joint venture in France and build a recycling plant in Bruyères-sur-Oise, in the country’s northern region of Val-d’Oise. Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed in 2026, with operations set to begin in 2027.
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The “state-of-the-art facility” facility will specialize in pre-processing, including discharging, dismantling and shredding end-of-life batteries and will also process scrap-waste generated during battery production. It will have a processing capacity of over 20,000 tons of waste batteries per year when fully operational.
The black mass extracted by the pre-processing facility will undergo further post-processing, to recover key battery raw materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, which will then be re-used by LGES in battery production at its battery plant in Poland.
Derichebourg will collect end-of-life batteries from France and surrounding countries. The company operates over 200 collection sites in France and over 285 sites worldwide.
LGES’ chief strategy officer, Chang Beom Kang, said in a statement: “This collaboration enables us to secure a stable and cost-competitive supply of recycled battery materials from the advanced processing of end-of-life batteries and battery scrap. This initiative will also significantly enhance the value we deliver to customers in the recycling sector.”
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