Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Attero Recycling to Invest $1 Bn by 2027, Expand in US, Europe, Indonesia

CEO and co-founder Nitin Gupta said, the company is looking to expand its operations and mega recycling facilities in Poland, Ohio and Indonesia
June 1, 2022
attero recycling

Noida-based Recycler, recycling all types of lithium-ion batteries, Attero Recycling is expanding its presence around the world by expanding its operations into the European, US and Indonesian markets. With a $1 billion investment over the next five years, the company plans to recycle 300,000 metric tons (MT) of lithium-ion battery waste per year by 2027 across all of its facilities, including India. As an electronic waste management company, Attero began recycling batteries three years ago.

Nitin Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Attero told the media, “We are looking to expand our operations and mega recycling facilities in Poland (Europe), Ohio (USA), and Indonesia, for which we have earmarked an investment of $1 billion. Part of this funding will come from internal accruals, a part from external debt, and part from equity.”

Of the total recycling capacity of 300 billion tonnes (MT), more than 50,000 metric tons per year will be in India and about 25,000 metric tons per year in Indonesia. The capacity will be distributed equally in Europe and the United States, with between 1,10,000 and 1,15,000 metric tonnes per year.

“Our investments in these markets will also be in a similar ratio. 35 per cent of the investments will go into expanding to Europe, 35 per cent of the investment will be dedicated to the US, 10 per cent will go into Indonesia and the balance 20 per cent will be used for India,” he said.

#As these batteries become more ubiquitous in nature, disposal of the end-of-life batteries must be proper otherwise they will become an environmental hazard. Second, and more important, almost 50% of the cost of an EV is the cost of the battery, and out of that, at least 30% is the cost of raw materials that make it, including cobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite and others. Each of these metals has significant environmental, social and governance issues. For example, almost 70% of the cobalt is mined in DR Congo, where the work is driven by child labour and warlords. With the current known sources of work and usage, the world will run out of cobalt by 2030.”Nitin Gupta CEO and co-founder of Attero told Tatsat Chronicle

Gupta said the expansion will help Attero, India’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling company, meet more than 15% of the global demand for cobalt, lithium, graphite and nickel. Attero recycles all kinds of old lithium-ion batteries and then exports the production to a Gigafactory that manufactures battery cells outside of India. Attero mainly mines major metals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite and manganese, and its clients in India include Hyundai Motor Co., Tata Motors Ltd. and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., among others, Gupta said.