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In recent weeks the US lead battery industry has taken some blows to its environment claims, but a new Battery Council International (BCI) report has ratified the widely held understanding that lead batteries– at 99% recyclability– are the most recycled consumer product in the country.

BCI’s biennial report on the recycling rate of lead batteries in the US to mark America Recycles Day on 15 November. 

Lead batteries are used in more than 275 million vehicles in the US and account for more than 70% of the world’s rechargeable power, according to the report produced by SmithBucklin of Chicago and commissioned by BCI.

UK-based vanadium redox flow battery firm RedT will integrate the chief executive officer of US energy storage firm Avalon Battery Corporation on the successful completion of a merger between the two firms.

Larry Zulch will become the new chief executive of RedT subject to finalisation of the merger as Jeff Kenna and Scott McGregor prepare to leave the company on 31 December. 

An investigation has been launched into a fire started by a lithium-ion battery that destroyed a recycling facility in the US on 24 October.

The fire, coupled with 60 mph winds, has meant recycling firm Republic Services has had to close its facility at the Salt River Pima landfill in Fountain Hills, Maricopa County, Arizona.

A spokesman for the Arizona firm said: “We are working with our municipal partners to identify short-term and long-term recycling processing solutions that will help us continue serving our customers with minimal interruption. 

“The cause of the fire is under investigation, and the recycling center is currently closed.”

An investigation into the fire at a 2MW/2MWh lithium-ion energy storage system in Arizona, US, is expected to close by the end of the year— eight months after the incident at the Arizona Public Service (APS) owned facility.

The final battery rack from APS’s McMicken site in Surprise is at a forensics laboratory in Michigan for analysis, after a specialty laboratory in Scottsdale removed it last month. 

US power company PacifiCorp has released plans to deploy 2,800MW of battery storage to cope with increases in its renewable energy penetration as it looks to close 20 coal power stations by 2038

Nearly 600MW of battery storage will be deployed by 2025 with the remaining capacity set to be installed by 2038 as the Oregon firm plans to close all but four of its coal-fired power station.