At the moment all end-of-life electric-vehicle batteries are still sent to processors in Germany, Finland or France, for the simple reason that there are no battery processors in the Netherlands. Looking ahead, the processing of such batteries here in the Netherlands is seen as a desirable development, assures Battery & Quality Assurance Manager, Janet Kes. “At ARN we are getting ready for the volume of batteries that will be coming our way,” she says. “So far, the number of batteries is still very limited and mainly from dealers. Only a tiny percentage of batteries come from car-dismantling companies.”
In 2022, 113,282kg of batteries were processed via ARN. Reason enough then to continue discussions that are ongoing with various existing and future battery processors.
An increasingly appealing business case
The general consensus is that the demand for batteries will continue unabated during the coming years. Add to this the current shortage of raw materials and requirement that more and more recycled materials will have to be used in the production of new batteries, and for many parties the increasing appeal of the business case is very obvious. “For ARN, it is key that the parties we will be working with can not only tell us how they intend to process those batteries, but also have the ability to provide insight into that processing through monitoring and reporting,” adds Kes.
Limit battery transportation
ARN reports to the government, explains Kes, which makes transparency and effective insight top priorities. “This is one of the reasons why we find battery processing here in the Netherlands would be such a good development. It avoids a great deal of paperwork that would otherwise be necessary for the transportation of waste across borders and it limits the need to transport discarded batteries across Europe. And that is also beneficial for the CO₂ footprint.”