The company SIA “EcoLead” has attracted financing from the bank “BlueOrange” in the amount of 4.36 million euros, which will be used for the establishment of a spent lead battery recycling plant in Kalnciems.
By attracting funds from the European Regional Development Fund, the total amount of investments exceeds 8 million euros. Most of the funding received will be used for the purchase and installation of equipment for recycling.
An industrial building in the Kalnciems industrial zone, Jelgavas Street 21, will be adapted to the needs of the factory. Reconstruction, arrangement of the territory and creation of the necessary infrastructure have already been implemented in the territory, as well as the first equipment has been installed. In the coming months, the plant plans to receive and install a metallurgical furnace and the equipment necessary for the implementation of various processing processes. The commissioning of the plant is planned for the 3rd quarter of 2022, and processing is planned to start in the beginning of 2023.
Over the next three years, the plant’s processing capacity is planned to increase to 15,000 tons of batteries per year, producing 8,700 tons of lead and lead alloy ingots. The metals and plastics produced in the recycling process will be exported for further use to Italy, the Czech Republic and other countries, again for the production of new batteries, thus ensuring an environmentally friendly full production cycle.
Kalnciems battery recycling plant will be the only recycling plant of this type in Latvia. Similar processing plants operate throughout Europe, including 22 years in Latvia’s neighboring country, Estonia.
The batteries that have reached the end of their time have been exported from Latvia for recycling to other nearby countries, such as Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. Lead-acid batteries are used in a wide variety of mechanisms for storing electricity, including cars, motorcycles, telecommunication towers and trains.
“In Latvia, about 10,000 tons of lead batteries are collected for recycling during the year, and this amount increases by an average of 7% every year. With the start of the new plant, Latvia will also be able to ensure the recycling of the produced waste, which is not only a moral obligation of each country, but also a very important factor in the context of European green guidelines. member Deniss Ulyanov.
Kalnciems battery recycling plant will provide more than 50 new jobs. Most of them will be specialists, and it is planned to attract and train mostly local labor for this work. Currently, the factory management team has been hired, and it is planned to start the selection of other employees in the coming months.
“BlueOrange Bank is pleased to see more and more development-, green-minded and growth-oriented companies among its lending customers, which use not only international experience, but also the latest technological solutions as the basis of their business operations. Recycling and re-use of waste is a key issue in any country’s long-term strategy. The EcoLead start-up can be ranked among the nationally important sites. The financial contribution of such companies to the state budget and the jobs created are equally positive. This year, BlueOrange is actively pursuing a small and medium-sized enterprise lending program with a total budget of more than 100 million euros, ”says Dmitry Latishev, CEO of BlueOrange.
In 2020, the company SIA “EcoLead” received a category A polluting activity permit from the State Environmental Service, which confirms the compliance of the future plant with the highest local and international safety and environmental protection standards. The plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art water and air treatment facilities and will be regularly monitored to ensure that the plant does not adversely affect the environment and the surrounding ecosystem.
The processing plant operation permit received by SIA “EcoLead” currently provides only for the recycling of lead batteries, but in the future the company is considering the possibility of expanding its operations by developing new types of recycling. “The main priority of the recycling plant will be the recycling of lead batteries collected in Latvia, but we will be ready to adapt to the needs of the Latvian market. Along with the growing popularity of environmentally friendly electric cars, each country must also think about the possibilities of recycling the nickel batteries used in them in the long run. Thus, the 5-10 year development vision of the factory envisages the possibility to develop the technological possibilities of the factory for the recycling of this type of batteries as well, ”says D. Uljanovs.
The owners of SIA “Ecolead” have more than 20 years of experience in the collection, transportation and processing of scrap metal and hazardous waste.
SIA “EcoLead” is owned by Latvian businessman Deniss Uļjanovs, but another 45% of the shares belong to the Estonian company “Unimet Estonia”.
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