Redwood Materials employees start the recycling process for an old automotive battery pack. Redwood Materials
Redwood Materials, a battery recycling and materials company started by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel, has begun working with the Rotary Club, one of the world’s largest service organizations, on a grassroots-level push to collect used batteries and electronics. The company hopes to extract their valuable metals to make new lithium-ion cells for electric vehicles.
The Reno, Nevada-based company, that’s also preparing to build cathodes and anodes for EV batteries, said it’s expanding a recycling partnership with the organization across the U.S. to collect used batteries, cellphones, laptops, electric tools and other devices at temporary dropoff sites. It builds on an initial program with Rotary that started this year in Silicon Valley. Even in the initial stage, Redwood…