Lithium Australia has reached a binding agreement to increase its stake in Envirostream Australia to a 90 per cent ownership interest.

Producing MMD at the new facility

Envirostream recently reported first production of MMD from its new battery recycling plant in Melbourne. The Company reports that the first shipment of MMD – containing cobalt, nickel, lithium and carbon – from the plant is imminent. Sales of scrap steel, copper and aluminium also recovered from the spent lithium-ion batteries processed to obtain MMD will recommence from the plant next month.

Lithium Australia MD Adrian Griffin called for the battery industry to take ownership of the disposal consequences of lithium ion batteries.

“Those batteries contain toxins that should never go to land fill. Lithium Australia, as a supplier of battery manufacturing technology, recognises the stewardship role required to mitigate the adverse consequences of battery consumption,” said Mr Griffin.

“By acquiring Envirostream, and expanding its processing capacity, we are developing an environmentally responsible framework for every Australian battery consumer. We encourage all Australian’s to join with us to create sustainable battery use with minimal environmental impact.”

Envirostream is the only company in Australia with the integrated capacity to collect, sort, shred and separate all the components of spent LIBs, making it a perfect fit with Lithium Australia’s critical battery-metal-processing expertise.

The Australian-owned battery processing facility, designed and built by the team at Envirostream, is based on international best practice. Its ISO 14001-accredited modular processing technology has involved more than three years of research and development.

As an onshore mixed-battery recycling company, Envirostream offers safe, sustainable and innovative management solutions for what is emerging as one of the biggest challenges facing the domestic waste industry.

Envirostream, which has agreements with a number of retailers and manufacturers regarding the stewardship of spent batteries, is currently rolling out its collection network nationally with safe, reliable battery recycling units that are fully compliant with Australian standards. The next step for Environstream is to provide every Australian with reasonable access to drop-off points for spent batteries, in order to avoid them being relegated to kerbside collections and landfill.

Source:  lithium-au.com