Canada’s Li-Cycle to recycle General Motors’ Ultium batteries

General Motors has announced a new partnership with Canada’s Li-Cycle to recycle leftover raw materials from the manufacturing of their Ultium battery packs.

The Mississauga, Ontario-based company will recycle up to 100% of the cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, copper, manganese and aluminum that go into making the batteries.

Through the recycling process, up to 95% of these materials can be re-used in the production of new batteries, or for other applications.

“Our combined efforts with Ultium Cells will be instrumental in redirecting battery manufacturing scrap from landfills and returning a substantial amount of valuable battery-grade materials back into the battery supply chain,” said Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle’s president and CEO and co-founder. “This partnership is a critical step forward in advancing our proven lithium-ion resource recovery technology as a more sustainable alternative to mining.”

Li-Cycle’s recycling process is also green itself, emitting 30% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than traditional processes according to a press release from GM.

The agreement is a big win for Li-Cycle, which announced last year its new battery recycling process generates less carbon pollution than mining those materials from the ground.