Heritage Group and Romeo Power to invest in battery recycling facility

The Heritage Group and Heritage Environmental Services, Inc., a leader in environmental and sustainability services, launched a new division, Heritage Battery Recycling (HBR), in late 2020 to address growing market demand for safe, sustainable solutions for lithium-ion batteries near or at end-of-life. HBR’s goal is to recover and reuse critical battery precursor resources that exist in finite supply across the globe.

In collaboration with Romeo Power, Inc., an energy technology leader delivering large-scale electrification solutions for complex commercial applications, Heritage Battery Recycling will develop a battery reuse and recycling facility sited in the southwestern United States.

“By working directly with Romeo Power, we have a unique opportunity to provide a safe, environmentally sound end-of-life strategy for commercial truck manufacturers, commercial fleet managers and conscientious business owners who are investing in clean energy today,” said Jeff Laborsky, CEO of Heritage. “We are proud to be part of this long-term sustainability collaboration.”

“Romeo Power is thrilled to expand our end-to-end electrification strategy through the Heritage Battery Recycling facility,” said Lionel Selwood Jr., CEO of Romeo Power. “We are committed to anticipating our customers’ long-term needs as they transition to electrification, and HBR will provide them with a turnkey solution to repurpose end-of-life batteries safely and responsibly.”

To jumpstart efficiencies in transportation and logistics for HBR’s battery collection operations across North America, Heritage partnered with Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc., a leading provider of parts cleaning, used oil re-refining, and hazardous and non-hazardous waste services primarily focused on small and mid-sized customers. Crystal Clean’s extensive network of 89 branch locations, advanced logistic operations and long-standing customer relationships across the automotive sector position it as an optimal partner for HBR.

Together, Heritage and Crystal Clean bring HBR access to over 100,000 customer locations, 2,500 knowledgeable employees, a fleet of over 1,300 power units and 108 facility locations across North America.

“The creation of Heritage Battery Recycling, and our partnership with Crystal Clean, reflects our 50-year legacy of pursuing sustainable solutions for our customers, and further demonstrates our commitment to achieving our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals,” said Jeff Laborsky, CEO of Heritage.  “Our two companies together combine the strengths of Crystal Clean’s advanced collection capabilities with Heritage’s safe processing expertise.”

“Since its inception, Heritage-Crystal Clean has partnered with Heritage in an effort to provide value to our customers,” explained Brian Recatto, president and CEO of Heritage-Crystal Clean. “We’re excited about our commitment to invest in a new partnership with Heritage Battery Recycling because it not only furthers our valuable relationship with Heritage, but is demonstrative of our vision to protect the earth’s resources and our mission to provide environmentally sustainable solutions to our customers.

HBR is investing in technology, partnerships and people to help identify the highest and best use of reduced capacity electric vehicle batteries and establishing best practices for recycling or refurbishment. Heritage’s experience with safely handling hazardous waste and managing total byproduct programs with many auto OEMs, makes it a natural fit for collaboration with automotive manufacturers facing this industry-wide challenge.

Shane Thompson has been named president of Heritage Battery Recycling. “Shane is the right leader for Heritage Battery Recycling,” said Laborsky. “His extensive background in battery end-of-life management makes him one of the world’s leading experts in this rapidly evolving industry. We are confident that Shane’s strong business relationships and deep understanding of the battery value chain will quickly position Heritage Battery Recycling as a market leader in North America.”