As part of our series of interviews of partners, it is Recyclia's turn to give us an outlook of their role in the project.
During the first months of the project, Recyclia conducted an in-depth study on End-of-life battery value chain and data issues (Deliverable 2.1 of the project). In a few sentences, what can you tell us about the current situation and perspectives for such aspects?
Electric vehicles (EVs), such as Battery EVs (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) are progressively making their way into the EU market. The number of new EVs registrations in the EU has steadily increased each year, from 600 in 2010 to over a million units in 2020, when they accounted for 11% of new registrations. EVs registrations increased dramatically in 2021, accounting for about 18% of newly registered passenger cars. Besides, the Ion-Lithium demand grows an average of 30% per year. The End-of-Life (EoL) battery value chain involves a diverse range of actors, regarding the production, usage, reuse, recycle, researching and legislation.
Recyclia is also a key partner in a specific work package on LIB’s recycling and remanufacturing impact assessments and on the Battery Passport Concept. Can you tell us a bit more about your work there?
Regarding the impact of LIB recycling and remanufacturing assessment on the Battery Passport concept, RECYCLIA is involved in several R&D projects where the key element is the Digital Battery Passport (DBP). Recyclia's objective is to capture essential information about the battery, including its composition, condition, technology, components, recycling percentage, and more.
Moreover,we have also contributed to developing the concept of the Battery Passport in relation to the FREE4LIB project, addressing key health and safety challenges in the new process, among other aspects. The DBP is essential for accelerating best practices in recycling and reducing management time for EoL LIBs.
The DBP not only provides a structured approach to modifying the current high level of confidentiality and interactions between producers, battery EoL managers, and end-users, but it also enables access to crucial data such as material composition, State of Health (SoH), and battery charge. In addition to a Circular Economy (CE) approach, open data will significantly enhance battery manufacturing and recycling.
Looking ahead, what will be the main steps and milestones to achieve for Recyclia within FREEL4IB?
In relation to the main steps and milestones Recyclia aims to achieve within the FREE4LIB project, it is important to highlight the implementation of a comprehensive analysis of the EoL battery value chain and data-related challenges, focusing not only on the current situation but also on future perspectives. This corresponds to WP2, in which Recyclia has completed Deliverable 2.1. A wide range of key stakeholders have contributed to this deliverable, sharing relevant data on the reuse and recycling of EoL LIBs from EVs, thereby providing an additional tool for developing policy recommendations to achieve this goal.
Tell us a bit more about Recyclia:
RECYCLIA is the largest selective collection and management platform for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), spent batteries and commercial and industrial packaging in Spain, bringing together the experience and know-how of the Environmental Foundations ECOPILAS, ECOFIMÁTICA, ECOASIMELEC and more recently also RECYCLIA ENVASES.
For more than 20 years now, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems managed by Recyclia have offered to their more than 3,000 member companies the required coverage for the proper fulfilment of their environmental obligations in a straight-forward and cost-effective manner, thanks to the simplification of processes, the optimization of management costs and the application of the very best technology at the service of recycling.
Finally, it is important to highlight that nowadays we are part of 6 projects; 4 of them are EU funded (Horizon Europe) and 2 Spanish projects funded by national R&D programmes.
For more information on Recyclia: https://www.recyclia.es/
