Recycling Startup Addresses Battery E-waste Problem

­German recycling startup Cylib has made strides towards solving the electronics industry’s worst-kept secret – e-waste.

The company has opened a pilot plant in Aachen, responsible for recycling 500 kilos of battery materials a day. Otherwise, and as America’s EPA points out, batteries contain metals like mercury, lead, cadmium, nickel, and silver that can pose a threat to human health or the environment “when improperly managed at the end of their service life.”

On top of that, batteries contain rare, critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, and graphite that can and should be recovered.

So it’s unsurprising that e-waste has been a vital concern for some time now.

A 2019 UN report concluded that 53.6 million tons of electronic waste had accumulated worldwide, and by 2030, the total could shoot up to 74.7 million tons.

For reference, that amount of waste could fill 100 Empire State buildings, and with only about 17.4% of it being recycled, it’s a scary prospect, indeed.

According to Cylib, their “disrupting process” recovers elements like cobalt, nickel, and copper, and apparently, their water-based recovery of lithium and graphite “drastically reduces the use of additives and acids.”

“Our current goal, in view of the huge societal and industrial need, is to expand our technology and capacity in the next step and pursue our mission to create the habitat for a sustainable society through circular raw materials,” said Cylib co-founder Lilian Schwich.

The startup plans to explore other possible sites as well.