NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — One of North America’s largest electric vehicle battery recycling plants is now open in Georgia.
A company called Ascend Elements runs the 150,000-square-foot facility in Newton County.
Channel 2 Action News got a sneak peek of the new plant on Industrial Drive NE in Covington.
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The company says the plant has the capacity to shred and recycle 66,000 pounds of used batteries every year, recovering up to 98% of critical battery materials and lowering carbon emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional cathode manufacturing methods.
“As there’s batteries being manufactured by some very large battery manufacturer, there’s always scrap being produced,” Ascend Elements CFO Andy Aberdale said. “That scrap can come to this facility and ultimately be returned back into those supply chains.”
The plant currently has 100 employees and is looking to hire 50 more.
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“An EV battery or a consumer electronic battery could either end up in a landfill, which is really bad for the environment, or they could end up here at our recycling facility where we can turn them back into engineered materials,” Aberdale said.
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