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Circularity.
It’s not a new concept. Nature does it very well. Humans used to, and then we put a lot of effort into disposability. It was just so convenient! As landfills quickly piled high, recycling became the thing. Now it is being called a scam. Harsh, because that was not the intent. But it was doomed to fail because we didn’t have workable processes to efficiently deal with reusing our diverse, and often toxic, trash.
Redwood Materials looks at the problem from the energy perspective, which is, of course, where we can make the biggest reduction in greenhouse gases. The Carson City, Nevada-based company was founded in 2019 by JB Straubel, who left Tesla after 15 years as its CTO.
Batteries, at least for now, are the biggest part of a transition, and demand is rising at a rapid pace. A great thing about batteries is that they can be infinitely recycled, and used in next-generation products. It can be a supply of raw materials that will remain essential to the technology for the foreseeable future.
Redwood’s broad view of battery production takes in everything from supply chain impacts to what happens when it's time to throw them out.
They’ve done the math.
Critical metals for new batteries move 50,000+ miles before they reach a manufacturing site, according to Redwood. What?!
They call it a “costly and unsustainable process.” That sounds like an understatement. But we’re not going to debate an innovator who has a solution that is nothing if not comprehensive; a closed-loop, domestic supply chain that removes raw materials from the equation.
That sounds brilliant. But can they avoid another recycling failure?
Apparently, it's easy when one entity takes on the collection, refurbishment, recycling, refining and remanufacturing. They are recovering about 95% of key battery elements to send back to manufacturers; elements that are not currently produced in North America.
And yet, the U.S. has the largest supply of lithium and cobalt deposits in the world.
Where, you ask?
“In America’s junk drawers,” Redwood says.
The trillions of dollars Americans spend on electronics every year, which they keep for an average of three years, resulting in hundreds of millions of discarded devices, yes, hundreds of millions, every year. Less than 5% are recycled. Cell phones account for 150 million of them, most languishing in limbo. Raise your hand if you know where your old Blackberry or flip phone is.
But it's more than phones and electronics like laptops, which we don’t know what to do with either. If it has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, Redwood will take it. The list includes power tools, baby monitors, electric hand mixers, Bluetooth speakers, cordless vacuum cleaners, VR headsets, video game controllers, hearing aids and electric toothbrushes.
To encourage people to hand over the things they can’t or don’t know how to throw out responsibly, they partner with nonprofits, schools, retailers and communities with events and have placed drop boxes in 75 U.S. cities. You can even ship to them directly.
Not surprising that it has been racking up awards, including being named to Time’s 2022 list of Most Influential Companies.
