Mercedes-Benz opened a revolutionary electric vehicle battery recycling in October, which will eliminate almost all the waste associated with used batteries for electric vehicles, according to an Agence France-Presse report in Tech Xplore.

Recycling EV batteries are not a new concept. Like most other batteries, even small ones should not be thrown away. When in landfills, they can leach toxic chemicals into the soil. Under most recycling programs in the United States, it is a complicated process during which time used batteries change hands several times – and there’s no doubt that planet-warming pollution is released in the process.

And while mining the precious metals needed for EV batteries is just a fraction of what goes to harvest dirty energy sources like oil and gas, there is still unavoidable pollution that goes into it. (However, even with that inevitable pollution, an EV is still cleaner than a gas-powered vehicle.)

Now, the new Mercedes-Benz factory, located in southwestern Germany, will reduce the need to mine new materials. Apparently it will have the ability to recycle itself 2,500 metric tons (approximately 2,755 tons) of material each year. According to Automotive Dive, the plant will be the first battery recycling facility in Europe to use a mechanical-hydrometallurgical process that will be able recover up to 96% of metals used in battery production such as lithium, nickel and cobalt.

Ultimately, the recycling process will provide Mercedes with raw materials to produce more than 50,000 new batteries per year, according to AFP.

Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius said the factory “marks a key milestone towards improving the sustainability of raw materials”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who attended the opening of the facility, said“The circular economy it is an engine of growth and, at the same time, an essential building block for achieving our climate goals.”

The recycling plant should also help Mercedes-Benz move forward stricter regulations on EV batteries coming into effect in the near future. The European Union adopted a regulation in 2023 that will finally be require batteries in newly sold electric vehicles to contain 16% recycled content for cobalt, 85% for lead, 6% for lithium and 6% for nickel, per Automotive Dive.

The facility is good news for Europe’s EV sector, which has seen a crisis in sales in recent months, but this is a trend that seems to be coming back.

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