Waste management firm Enva has bought lead-acid and lithium-ion battery recycler Sar Recyling for a reported €20 million ($22 million).
The Irish firm— controlled by British private equity company Exponent and others of the Environment Division of DCC — will take over the UK firm’s battery recycling activities in Ireland.
As one of the main UK lead acid battery recyclers, SAR recover valuable component materials which are then sold to global smelters and into the plastics recycling industry.
An Enva spokesman told BEST the company expected to recycle around 30,000 tonnes of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in the forthcoming year?
Enva is also investigating and investing in R&D for other recycling other battery chemistries.
The Enva spokesman said: “Lead-acid battery recycling market is forecast to be relatively steady, possibly growing slowly. The wave of electrification is however driving a rapid proliferation of other battery chemistries from a lower baseline, especially lithium-ion.”
Simon Dick, managing director at Enva said in a statement the buy-out was a logical extension for its waste recovery business, particularly in the automotive sector as emerging battery chemistries become more prevalent.
Click HERE to read BEST‘s dedicated battery recycling section in the latest edition of the magazine.