Blog Material Recycling Knodge

By knodge.eu | Wirtschaft

The bloody reality of battery recycling

Who will survive the price crash?

Forget the green PR fairy tales. Battery recycling is currently a bloody business. Europe wants to become independent of China and is calling for a closed-loop recycling economy. The idea: we keep our raw materials in the country. But the bare figures are bringing the flagship companies to their knees.

No empty phrases, just the harsh reality.

1 The illusion of the "recycling stalls" (business models in check)

Important to note: none of these companies is a pure battery recycler. Battery recycling is just one piece of the puzzle in a much larger business model. Anyone who does not understand this is completely misjudging the shares and risks.

  • Veolia (The water and waste giant): Battery recycling currently accounts for only a tiny fraction (well under 1%) of their total turnover. Its real engine room is global water supply and industrial wastewater treatment. For them, hydrometallurgy is essentially nothing more than extreme chemical water treatment. They use their existing infrastructure.
  • Umicore (the chemicals and metallurgy group):** Umicore's real cash cow is exhaust catalysts for combustion engines and classic precious metal recycling (gold, silver, platinum from e-waste). Battery recycling is a strategic area for the future, but it is currently in the red and has to be cross-financed by the old business.
  • Northvolt (the battery producer):** Northvolt has set out to build gigafactories for new battery cells. The recycling project ("Revolt") was just an in-house attempt to control the supply chain (target: 50% recycled material by 2030). The core business is production, not waste.

2 Why these companies are still the backbone of Europe

Without recycling, there is no European e-car industry. These companies are systemically relevant. They are the waste collectors and gold diggers in one. They are supposed to scrape lithium, cobalt and nickel from old batteries so that we are not dependent on Chinese mines or the Congo. They are the "sovereign fortresses" of European industry.

3 The stress test: What's breaking their backs right now

The math doesn't add up at the moment. The operating costs for smelting and leaching (hydrometallurgy) are gigantic energy and chemical guzzlers. At the same time, metal prices are at rock bottom (lithium is hovering at USD 24,000). Anyone who bases their business model on fluctuating commodity prices is playing casino.

  • Northvolt (the shattered dream): They wanted to do everything themselves. Build and recycle batteries. That was too expensive. The company went completely greenfield. The ruthless truth: Northvolt will have to sell its recycling division in March 2026 in order to raise fresh money.
  • Umicore (the bleeding top dog): They have the best technology (95% recovery), but the fixed costs are eating it up. Umicore has to sell its silverware (gold holdings) to pay off debt. New plants have been put on hold. Bare survival mode prevails.
  • Veolia (The pragmatic garbage man): They don't build batteries, they just turn garbage into money. They act as a service provider (tolling) and pass on the price risk. But they also have to bridge the gap until 2035, when the big wave of old batteries finally rolls in.

4 The Knodge analysis: Who can be saved (and who can't)

Can a knowledge portal like Knodge help in this carnage? Yes, but not everyone. When the house is on fire, you don't buy new smoke detectors.

| Can Knodge help? | The ruthless truth |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Veolia | YES (The Clear Winner) | Veolia scales across hundreds of decentralized plants. They have to manage extremely complex EU waste directives and dangerous goods protocols. Knodge acts as a "regulatory radar" here. It delivers verified compliance knowledge to every local plant manager. This reduces risks and saves massive amounts of money. The ROI is immediate. |
| Umicore | NO (Wrong Timing) | Knodge could help secure historical engineering knowledge to reduce costly chemical use. But Umicore is turning over every penny. IT budgets are frozen. Those fighting for survival have no head for new software implementations. |
| Northvolt | NO (Too late) | The house is already on fire. The emergency sale is underway. The employees flee, the knowledge goes out the door unsecured. Those who sell off parts of the company no longer buy knowledge AI. The child has drowned in the well. |

Conclusion for C-Level

Technological perfection does not protect against bankruptcy. If you want to survive in recycling, you have to radically reduce costs and eliminate regulatory risks. Knodge is the tool for the pragmatists like Veolia, who scale via processes and compliance, not for the dreamers.

Further links & financial data

Company & share data:

Regulatory framework (EU):