LG Energy Solution and Toyota Tsusho Form Battery Recycling Joint Venture

LG Energy Solution, South Korea’s top battery producer, announced on Thursday that it has signed an agreement with Toyota Tsusho, a trading arm of Japan’s Toyota Group, to establish a battery recycling joint venture in the United States.

The new company, named Green Metals Battery Innovations, will be located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Its primary focus will be on preprocessing operations, which involve dismantling and shredding battery manufacturing scrap to extract black mass—a material rich in critical metals such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, according to LG Energy Solution.

LG Energy Solution will provide production scrap generated during the manufacturing of electric vehicle (EV) batteries for Toyota Motor as the feedstock for the new facility.

The recovered black mass will subsequently go through a separate post-processing phase, in which raw materials will be extracted and refined for reuse in new battery material production.

Construction of the recycling plant is expected to begin later this year, with operations targeted to commence in 2026. Once operational, the facility will be capable of handling 13,500 tons of battery scrap annually, equivalent to more than 40,000 automotive battery packs.

The partnership leverages Toyota Tsusho’s proven expertise in battery recycling and preprocessing technology, and LG Energy Solution sees it as a major step forward in expanding its North American recycling infrastructure.

“This joint venture will not only contribute to securing a stable supply of essential battery materials,” said Kang Chang-beom, Chief Strategy Officer of LG Energy Solution, “but also enhance the overall competitiveness of our battery recycling operations across North America.”