Europe Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Market

The Europe lithium-ion battery recycling market is projected to grow from USD 4.82 billion in 2025 to USD 15.05 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 17.7% during the forecast period. The lithium-ion battery recycling sector in Europe is experiencing robust growth owing to the quick acceptance of electric cars as well as the rising number of end-of-life batteries in the region. The stringent regulations set by the EU regarding battery collection, recycling efficiency, and minimum recycled content are making manufacturers invest in local recycling facilities. Europe is also accelerating recycling as one of the ways to secure its critical raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, thereby reducing its reliance on imports. Emerging technologies in hydrometallurgical recycling, together with sustainability commitments by car manufacturers, are also contributing to the growth of this market.

Umicore (Belgium), Fortum (Finland), Stena Recycling (Sweden), ACCUREC Recycling GmbH (Germany), and Ecobat (UK) fall under the winners' category. These are leading players in the Europe lithium-ion battery recycling market based on their revenue, production capacity, technological innovation, and market presence.

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Umicore (Belgium)

Umicore is a leading global materials technology and recycling group with operations across Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific, and Africa. It operates through three business segments: recycling, catalysis, and energy & surface technologies. The recycling segment consists of jewelry & industrial metals, precious metal management, and precious metal refining business units. Recently, the company established a new business unit: Battery Recycling Solutions (BRS) under the recycling segment. It provides recycling services for lithium-ion, lithium polymer, and nickel-hydride batteries, sourced from power tools, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and production scrap batteries such as cells, foils, and powders. The company serves various industries, including chemical, electrical & electronics, and automotive, through BRS.

Umicore operates one of the world's most sophisticated metal recycling facilities in Hoboken (Belgium), which can recover 28 precious and non-ferrous metals. The battery recycling plant in Hoboken has an annual input capacity of more than 7,000 tons of lithium-ion batteries and battery production scrap. Also, the company recycles batteries through its recycling plant in Hanau (Germany). Both facilities employ hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy recycling processes for recycling batteries. The feedstock for recycling includes industrial residues, electronic scrap, batteries, automotive & industrial catalysts, and fuel cells. The company comprises 15 R&D facilities that focus on various developments, including battery recycling and advanced technology development related to decarbonization and emission reduction programs.

Fortum (Finland)

Fortum is a producer of clean energy, offering its solutions & services for battery recycling, electricity, heating, cooling, and resource efficiency. The company is a relatively new entrant in the lithium-ion battery recycling market. Its main activities consist of five segments: generation, consumer solutions, city solutions, Russia, and other operations. The company offers lithium-ion battery recycling services under the city solutions segment.

Fortum employs its low-CO2 hydrometallurgical recycling process in combination with mechanical processing to recycle end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and battery production scrap. This process recovers various battery materials such as aluminum, copper, lithium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel. The recycling feedstock is sourced from electric vehicle batteries, industrial batteries, and household batteries, among other products. This recycling process results in a black mass that contains various chemical and mineral components. Metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel from the black mass are recovered using a chemical precipitation methodology. Its recycling facilities are located in Harjavalta and Ikaalinen (Finland), while its operational bases are spread across Russia, the Nordic countries, Poland, and other countries.

Stena Recycling (Sweden)

Stena Recycling provides waste collection, reuse, and advanced recycling services on an industrial level. Its recycled materials include ferrous & non-ferrous metals, plastics, and paper, which are resold for use in producing new products. The company recycles lithium-ion batteries from smart devices, home appliances, power tools, electric cars, and production scraps such as battery cells, copper foil, aluminum, and plastics. Using a hydrometallurgical process, it can recover all types of lithium-ion batteries, including LTO, LFP, LMO, NMC, LCO, and NCA. The company has battery recycling centers in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Norway, and Italy.

Stena Recycling also focuses on several R&D projects. Since 2009, it has had a professorship in industrial recycling at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). In October 2016, the company inaugurated Europe's most modern recycling facility - Stena Nordic Recycling Center in Halmstad, Sweden. The company mainly operates across Europe and has an active presence in the US.

ACCUREC Recycling GmbH (Germany)

ACCUREC Recycling GmbH is engaged in the recycling of a wide range of batteries, including lithium-ion batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, alkaline batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, and mixed batteries. The company operates two facilities: the Mülheium recycling facility and the Krefeld plant. The former processes nickel and cadmium-containing batteries with low gas emission status, and the latter reduces the emission of toxic gases or metals as it contains a high-end particle filtering system (HEPA).

The company is continuously involved in R&D projects, such as Crocodile, LISA, NAIMA, ECO2LIB, LIBERTY, and LOLABAT. These projects are related to battery recycling and the recovery of precious metals, along with applications in automotive and non-automotive sectors. The development of such projects includes the usage of advanced hydro-, bio-, pyro-, ionic-, and electrometallurgy technologies. The company provides battery collection and recycling services for most European NCROs (National Battery Collection and Recycling Organizations), battery manufacturers, and waste management companies. Some end users are Ford, BMW, VW, Bosch, Siemens, CATL, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Opel, Hoppecke, and GRS.

Ecobat (UK)

Ecobat is into producing lead and lead alloys and the recycling of batteries. The company operates through four reportable divisions: resources, logistics, battery, and solutions. The resources division includes the recycling of spent lead acid batteries, while the solutions division covers the recycling & resource recovery of lithium-ion and other battery chemistries through the lithium services sub-category. Its capabilities include battery collection, discharge & diagnostics, dismantling, crushing/sorting, and recycling management. Ecobat receives approximately 120 million batteries each year. The company operates more than 15 facilities, 14 smelters, three lithium-focused units, a collection truck fleet, and approximately 65,000 battery collection points. Its battery recycling business is primarily operational in Darlaston (UK) and Hettstedt (Germany) in Europe. Also, the company develops polypropylene-recyclate to support the polymer industry. It has an active presence across Europe, North America, South America, and Africa.

Market Ranking

In the North America lithium-ion battery recycling market, companies are ranked based on revenue, production capacity, technological innovation, and market presence. Leading players such as Umicore (Belgium), Fortum (Finland), Stena Recycling (Sweden), ACCUREC Recycling GmbH (Germany), and Ecobat (UK) are playing a crucial role in supply, accounting for a significant share of total North America lithium-ion battery recycling.

Related Reports:

Europe Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Market by Source (Automotive, Non-Automotive), Battery Chemistry (LFP, NMC, LMO, NCA, LTO), Battery Component, Recycling Process (Hydrometallurgical, Pyrometallurgy, Physical/Mechanical), and Country - Forecast to 2032

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