April 21, 2022: Italian lead recycler STC and France’s Dross Engineering are among companies involved in a project to build a €4.5 million (about $5 million) European lead battery recycling facility, according to an announcement made on April 6. As a rough rule of thumb for every million dollars of plant, some 1,000 tonnes of lead are produced a year.

STC’s parent company, Bulgaria-based battery manufacturer Monbat, said in a Bulgarian Stock Exchange announcement that its Italian company, Dross and “other leading players” in the battery recycling sector, had been contracted to work on the new plant — which is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2023.

Monbat said the plant “will contribute to the sustainability of the supply of the basic raw material — lead — as well as bringing in place the EU standards in circular economy and environmental management … the approximate value of this investment is in the range of €4.5 million.”

However, details of the project and the location of the plant were not disclosed. Monbat, STC and Dross had yet to respond to BESB’s request for additional information at the time of going to press.