LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho Corporation have established Green Metals Battery Innovations, a joint venture company focused on battery recycling. Under the agreement signed by the U.S. arms of both companies, the partners will construct and operate a pre-processing plant in Winston-Salem, a city in North Carolina.
The new plant will handle pre-processing operations to extract black mass, which contains key raw metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, by dismantling and shredding battery production scrap. In the initial stage of its operation, the JV will see LG Energy Solution will supply scrap generated during the production of EV batteries for Toyota Motor. The facility is scheduled to commence operations in 2026, with an objective to achieve maximum annual processing capacity of 13,500 tons of scrap. This figure, LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho says, is equivalent to over 40,000 automotive batteries.
That black mass extracted at the plant will later undergo a separate post-processing stage to recover the raw materials contained within. The joint venture seeks to further establish a battery-to-battery closed-loop system where those raw materials are circulated as recycled resources for new battery materials, advancing a true circular economy in the battery supply chain.
Through its new JV, LG Energy Solution and the Toyota Group are ultimately aiming to drive carbon emissions down through circular economy initiatives. By partnering with a leading battery recycler equipped with advanced pre-processing technologies and operational know-how, LG Energy Solution intends to secure a competitive recycling infrastructure in the region.
