SonyD Subsidiary to Export 'Used Battery Recycling Technology and Plant' to New Zealand Upsycle

SonyD (CEO Oh Jung-geon) subsidiary SonyDritech announced on the 25th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Upcycle Ltd, a New Zealand recycling specialist company, for the transfer of used battery recycling technology and plant supply.

(From the left) Jeong Chandu, General President of Sonidritech, and Alex Hong, CEO of Upcycle, are taking a commemorative photo after signing the agreement. Photo by Sonid.

Through this agreement, SonyDritech will provide technology and consulting for the export of recycled smelting plant equipment, as well as the establishment of a pretreatment plant for EV vehicle secondary battery recycling. Upcycle will supply all raw materials such as black mass produced after establishing the secondary battery pretreatment plant in New Zealand to SonyDritech. Upcycle, which participated as a New Zealand buyer at the ‘2023 Korea Sourcing Work’ held at KINTEX from the 21st to the 22nd, visited SonyDritech’s Goryeong plant to conduct this consultation.

Upcycle, established in 2009, is a specialist company in electronic waste and battery recycling. It has recycling facilities and services for over 400 types of electronic products across various industries, and holds export permits issued by the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and ISO certification. Recently, it recovered lithium-ion batteries from 500 recalled EV vehicles in New Zealand, performed primary pretreatment, and exported them overseas, and continues to pretreat lithium-ion batteries for EV vehicles.

SonyDritech explained that it has obtained a comprehensive designated waste recycling business license and is equipped with complete recycling facilities including pretreatment smelting furnaces, refining furnaces, casting machines, and air pollution control equipment, enabling it to process various raw materials. Through its lead-acid battery recycling business, it produces pure lead and alloy lead, supplying various companies including automotive battery and shielding material manufacturers. This year, it plans to increase production capacity of key products such as pure lead and alloy lead and maximize profit margins through cost reduction.

Alex Hong, CEO of Upcycle, said, “Since its establishment in 2005, SonyDritech has maintained steady growth in the non-ferrous metal recycling sector. After being recently acquired by SonyD, it secured specialized personnel in the pretreatment sector, established management and administrative systems, improved factory environment, and purchased additional business sites, enabling early establishment and growth potential in the secondary battery used battery recycling business, which led to the decision to cooperate.”

Jung Chan-doo, General Manager of SonyDritech, stated, “The scale of technology transfer and plant supply for this used battery recycling plant is expected to be about 1 million USD (approximately 1.3 billion KRW) in the first phase,” and added, “The second phase of the project will begin soon.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.