LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho have announced a new joint venture, Green Metals Battery Innovations, LLC, aimed at advancing sustainable EV battery recycling in North America.
The venture will build a pre-processing plant in Winston‑Salem, North Carolina, scheduled to start in 2026. This facility will dismantle and shred battery production scrap to extract “black mass”, rich in nickel, cobalt, and lithium.
At full capacity, the plant aims to process 13,500 tonnes of scrap annually, equivalent to recycling materials from over 40,000 EV batteries—marking one of the largest recycling operations in the region.
Initially focused on scrap from LG Energy Solution’s battery production for Toyota, the venture will eventually expand to recycle end‑of‑life batteries, establishing a full battery-to-battery closed-loop supply system.
Chang Beom Kang, CSO of LG Energy Solution, said the JV will “secure a stable supply of key battery materials” and sharpen its competitiveness in North America, while Toyota Tsusho’s COO Masaharu Katayama highlighted the move as essential for building a circular economy for batteries.
As the EV sector accelerates, this partnership strengthens regional recycling infrastructure, reduces reliance on virgin raw materials, and cuts carbon emissions across the battery lifecycle .
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