SK Ecoplant Subsidiary Tes Accelerates Entry into Japan's Used Battery Recycling Market

Joint Development with Japan's Leading Lease Company Underway

TES, a subsidiary of SK ecoplant, is making a full-scale entry into the Japanese waste battery recycling market by partnering with a leading Japanese leasing company.

On the 12th, according to SK ecoplant, TES signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for 'collaboration on the Japanese waste battery recycling business' with Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing (SMFL) and SMFL's rental-specialized subsidiary SMFLR at the headquarters of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Tokyo, Japan, the day before.

At the business agreement ceremony for "Japan Waste Battery Recycling Business Cooperation" held on the 11th at the headquarters of Mitsui Sumitomo Bank in Tokyo, Japan, Terence Ng Tes, CEO (center), Masaki Tachibana, SMFL CEO (right), and Hirotsugu Harada, SMFLR CEO (left), are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by SK Ecoplant

About 10 officials attended the signing ceremony, including Terence Ng, CEO of TES, Masaki Tachibana, CEO of SMFL, and Hirotsugu Harada, CEO of SMFLR.

SMFL, an affiliate of the Japanese Sumitomo Group, is a leading leasing company headquartered in Tokyo. As of 2022, its sales amounted to approximately 2.1593 trillion yen (about 20 trillion KRW). Recently, it has been focusing on the circular economy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and solve social issues, and is promoting entry into new businesses such as waste battery recycling.

SMFL’s subsidiary SMFLR operates rental businesses for various assets ranging from IT devices including PCs and workstations to heavy equipment. With growing interest in reuse and recycling of rental assets, further collaboration with TES, a global recycling specialist, is anticipated.

Through this agreement, the three companies plan to leverage their respective strengths to secure a leading position in the Japanese waste battery recycling market. TES possesses expertise across the entire waste battery recycling process, including collection, pre-processing, post-processing, and reuse. The combination of TES’s waste battery recycling technology and SMFL and SMFLR’s domestic network and financing capabilities is expected to enhance negotiation power with electric vehicle and battery manufacturers based in Japan, according to the companies. They also plan to establish a waste battery recycling pre-processing plant in Japan by securing stable waste battery supply and building networks.

Additionally, the three companies have set a joint goal to realize a resource circular economy by establishing a closed-loop system in Japan that reintroduces rare metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel recovered from waste batteries into new battery manufacturing. They agreed to strengthen their partnership through joint business execution and to explore overseas market expansion together.

Although Japan’s electric vehicle adoption rate was below 1% as of 2022, indicating an early stage of electric vehicle transition, demand is expected to gradually increase as the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles will be banned in Japan after 2035. The Japanese government’s active support for building a waste battery circular economy is also expected to be a favorable factor for the collaboration among the three companies.

Terence Ng, CEO of TES, said, “Japan is a market with high growth potential in the waste battery recycling sector. Leveraging our technology and global network, we will accelerate securing a leading position in the global waste battery recycling market through cooperation with SMFL and SMFLR.”

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