Redwood Materials to Boost Battery Recycling After Disasters

Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, is expanding its efforts to recover and recycle damaged lithium-ion batteries from accidents and disasters.

The company has demonstrated its capabilities in two recent incidents.

In a highway incident on I-15, Redwood Materials collaborated with Graymar Environmental to clean up after a truck carrying lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught fire, closing the highway for nearly two days.

The company successfully recovered and recycled 70,000 pounds of battery materials—enough to produce batteries for approximately 70 new electric vehicles.

Following the Maui wildfires, the company partnered with the EPA to manage damaged lithium batteries from Lahaina. They collected various types of batteries from residential storage systems, golf carts, and electric vehicles.

These materials were transported to their Nevada facility, where they were recycled to recover valuable materials including nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium for reuse in the supply chain.

The company works with both local and national organizations to ensure swift and safe recovery of lithium-ion batteries during emergency situations, according to their recent blog post detailing these initiatives.