Cirba Solutions Battery Recycling Plant

Cirba Solutions is opening a battery recycling plant with the help of approximately $75 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Lancaster, Ohio, facility will be a part of establishing a domestic supply chain for the electric vehicle (EV) market. The new facility will bring at least 150 permanent jobs along with numerous construction jobs that will contribute to an economic boom in the area.

Historical context

• “Cirba Solutions supports a critical stage in the battery supply chain by collecting, transporting, and processing manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. Currently, it is one of the largest producers of black mass from recycled lithium-ion batteries. It is also the most experienced lithium-ion recycler in North America, with more than 50 million pounds of EV batteries recycled. The company’s industry-leading operations will shape the Lancaster facility’s evolution to source critical raw materials domestically and create a circular economy for EVs.” – Cirba Solutions, last accessed February 12, 2024
• “Last month, Cirba Solutions announced plans to construct a lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Eloy, Arizona. The 75,000-square-foot location is expected to process enough battery material to power 50,000 EVs annually. The company aims to open seven processing facilities in North America by 2026.” – Cirba Solutions, last accessed February 12, 2024
• “CEO and President of Cirba Solutions, David Klanecky, said that the $82 million investment from the federal government was essential for the project. As the industry is growing rapidly, Cibra Solutions must keep up. ‘We can’t build plants fast enough to recycle these materials. The goal now is to get assets on the ground, hire people, train people. It’s a new industry so a lot of training has to go on,’ said Klanecky.” – Waste 360, August 8, 2023
• “Cirba Solutions on Monday broke ground on an approximate $250 million expansion project at its battery recycling plant in the East Side Industrial Park. The new building is expected to open in the first quarter of 2025 adjacent to its existing building at 295 Quarry Road SE.” – Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, August 7, 2023

Project summary

• “Funding for the project will be used to expand and upgrade Cirba Solutions’ existing lithium-ion recycling facility in Lancaster, Ohio. Cirba Solutions will collect, disassemble, shred, and upgrade the critical minerals present from tens-of-thousands of tons of lithium-ion batteries so the materials can be reused to produce new lithium-ion batteries.” – U.S. Department of Energy, last accessed February 12, 2024

Outcomes, improvements, and practical impact

• “At full operation, the Lancaster facility will be one of the largest commercial-scale recycling facilities in North America, producing enough battery-grade critical minerals to power more than 200,000 new electric vehicles (EVs) annually.” – U.S. Department of Energy, last accessed February 12, 2024
• “Soon, this facility will be able to churn out roughly four times more battery-grade material — potentially enough to power more than 200,000 new EVs annually.” – Canary Media, February 22, 2023
• “Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited Lancaster, OH to break ground on Cirba Solutions’ $250 million battery recycling facility. ‘We have the opportunity to get all of these batteries, whether it is from your phone, or your laptop or your vehicle and take all that material inside, which normally we would be getting from China or other places, and re-use it,’ said Granholm.” – Waste 360, August 8, 2023
• “Furthering its mission to create a closed-loop battery ecosystem while working toward its carbon neutrality goals, Toyota Motor North America (Toyota) today announced that it is expanding its battery recycling network with a new collaboration with Cirba Solutions, a premiere battery recycling materials and management company.” – Toyota Motor North America, December 7, 2023
  • “Processing will take place at Cirba Solutions’ Lancaster, Ohio facility, which recently received an $82+ million Department of Energy grant as part of the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Law.” – Toyota Motor North America, December 7, 2023

Climate impact

• “This will be one of many of our operational investments to strengthen supply, enhance national security and promote sustainability principles. It will also bolster more manufacturers’ ability to reach their electrification goals, including those set out in the Inflation Reduction Act.” – Recycling Today, October 11, 2022

Economic impact

• Lancaster Mayor David Scheffler (R): “Construction jobs bring a lot of wages to town. … And spending on local restaurants and local stores, etc. So it will be a big boon to the economy before the plant is even operational and they ramp up employees.” – Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, October 11, 2022

Official supporting statements

• U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH): “Investing in American production and Ohio workers is part of the work we are doing to put in place a new pro-American, pro-worker industrial policy. … The future of technology development in this country will be in Ohio and part of that future includes knowing how to reuse the materials we already have to make the vehicles of the future. Ohio is taking another step in leading the country and the world in producing sustainable cars and electric technology that Americans will need and drive over the next century.” – Office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, October 20, 2022

Selected clips

• “Cirba Solutions plans $200 million expansion at industrial park” – Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, October 11, 2022
• “This EV battery recycling plant in Ohio is planning a huge expansion” – Canary Media, February 22, 2023