From natural disaster recovery to sustainable solutions, Redwood leads the charge in active battery recycling.

As natural disasters and major accidents become more frequent, Redwood Materials Inc. steps in to ensure that lithium-ion batteries, often damaged in these events, are safely recovered and recycled, preventing further harm to affected communities and the environment.

In just a few short years, Redwood has grown from a small recycling startup into a critical player in the global effort to create a sustainable battery supply chain. Founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel in 2017, the company's focus on recycling lithium-ion batteries has helped it rapidly expand its operations across the U.S. and beyond.

What began as a mission to recover valuable metals – such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt – from lithium-ion batteries used in electronics and electric vehicles has evolved into something much larger. In recent months, the company's work has taken on new urgency as it has begun to assist with recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters and significant accidents.

"With batteries proliferating in cars, homes, and on the grid, it doesn't have to be an environmental mess at their end of life or after a disaster," Straubel said in an interview with Forbes. "There are good solutions to recover that material and make sure it doesn't impact the environment any more than the disaster did in the first place."

One thing that sets Redwood apart from traditional recyclers is its more proactive approach. Rather than waiting for batteries to arrive at their facilities, Redwood has begun stepping in directly after major incidents to recover damaged batteries on-site. This shift reflects the company's growing role in disaster recovery efforts, ensuring that hazardous materials don't exacerbate an already dire situation.

Environmental Protection Agency

Burned battery packs, like this one from the Lahaina fires, are among the many damaged lithium-ion batteries Redwood Materials helps recover and recycle to prevent environmental contamination.

Whether it was the aftermath of the Lahaina wildfires in Hawaii last year, the I-15 highway truck fire in August between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, or the recent devastation of hurricanes Helene and Milton on the East Coast, Redwood has been on the ground across the country, working alongside local and national disaster relief teams.

In these situations, the company now sends specially trained personnel equipped with advanced technology, carefully adhering to and often surpassing Department of Transportation requirements for the safe packaging and transport of materials, ensuring that the batteries are handled responsibly and safely during the recycling process.

Their goal: to safely recover and recycle damaged batteries, preventing potentially hazardous materials from entering the environment.

This proactive stance helps manage waste and supports the circular economy Redwood has championed, with up to 95% of critical materials from damaged batteries being reused in future production.

"We can recover more or less the same percentages – it's in the high 90s – of all those critical materials even after a fire or a flooding event," Straubel said. "The materials largely don't leave the battery pack. Even in those cases where there was something like a fire, it may look dramatic, but the battery itself is still largely sitting there intact even though it may be burned."

With more EVs taking to American streets, road accidents involving hazardous materials, including damaged lithium-ion packs, have more than doubled in the past decade, according to a CBS News report.

Include the severe uptick in natural disasters and more widespread use of long-form energy storage, the need for damaged battery recycling will likely continue to rise.

Keeping these batteries, whether from end-of-life or premature damage, out of landfills is crucial. However, managing damaged batteries from accidents and disasters wasn't part of Redwood's original focus.

As this need became apparent, the company adapted to address it, stepping in to provide solutions where few existed.

"It is definitely exceeding what we expected and wasn't something we really planned on, but it is a pressing need," Straubel told Forbes. "This is responding where we see problems and where we see needs for education or recovery and solutions. There hasn't been much out there for people in a lot of these cases. The products are relatively new and even the local governments don't really have a playbook yet. They're trying to figure out what's the right response and who can even help in these cases."

Looking ahead, Redwood will continue to expand its operations to meet the growing need for sustainable solutions in battery recycling and recovery. As the demand for electric vehicles and energy storage increases, so too will the importance of companies like Redwood, which is stepping up to ensure that these critical materials are responsibly managed.

By proactively recovering damaged batteries from disaster sites and transforming potential environmental hazards into resources for the future, this North American giant is redefining the role of recycling in driving a circular economy and ensuring a cleaner, more sustainable world.