Cawleys has long been at the forefront of the recycling industry and is one of the very few privately owned enterprises currently able to actively recycle lithium batteries, particularly those from electric vehicles. With this in mind, the brand-new waste and recycling partnership between Cawleys and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) is the perfect fit.
UKBIC is a pioneering publicly funded £130m 18,500 square metre battery development production facility, which is due to be fully operational later this year. It allows organisations in the UK to prove whether their promising technologies (from electrode and cell materials through to battery modules and packs) can be manufactured at the required volume, speed, performance and cost to be commercially successful.
Cawleys, an independent, family-owned recycling and waste management business based in Luton, has long been committed to providing sustainable waste solutions to businesses across the region. Dedicated to helping organisations reduce, re-use and recycle waste, Cawleys has expanded in recent years to encompass the compliant collection, storage, dismantling and recycling of the lithium batteries. Cawleys can safely and successfully extract the precious elements found in the batteries enabling them to be recycled and re-used, reducing reliance on raw materials. As electric vehicles become the norm, the demand for lithium battery production will increase dramatically and sustainable production that includes the re-use of recycled precious metals and elements will be vital.
The new partnership between Cawleys and UKBIC will involve Cawleys collecting lithium batteries and all manner of hazardous and non-hazardous waste and recycling produced during the manufacturing process. Additional to the waste management service, Cawleys are also providing DGSA (Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor) guidance and other industrial services to ensure the site remains clean and compliant across all areas of the manufacturing facility. The contract was awarded to Cawleys after a rigorous tender and they were chosen above much larger national and international corporate waste management companies due to their confidence and track record with lithium battery waste management and outstanding service delivery.
Alan Colledge who heads up Cawleys’ Lithium Battery Recycling division commented: “We are delighted to have been selected as a battery waste partner for UKBIC. We have been working on methods to safely collect, transport, store, dismantle and recycle lithium batteries for many years now and it’s fantastic that our preparation and research has been recognised by such an important organisation. With the government committing to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, electric vehicles are becoming increasingly important to our way of life. Ensuring the batteries that power them are sustainable and can be disposed of safely or recycled is vital.”
Damian Pearce, Director of Human Resources and the director responsible for HS&E, added: “The importance of the recycling of batteries cannot be overstated, something we at UKBIC see as a key part of the Faraday Battery Challenge’s objective of fast tracking the development of cost-effective, high-performance, durable, safe, low-weight and recyclable batteries.”
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