KION Group has struck a partnership with Canada’s Li-Cycle Holdings, an industry leader in lithium ion battery resource recovery, in a bid to strengthen its sustainability practices.

The partnership is set to remain in place until 2030 and the recycling of lithium ion batteries will commence second half of this year.

KION sells lithium ion batteries worldwide with its electric industrial trucks and automated warehouse logistics solutions.

The partnership will ensure the most important materials from the batteries will be recovered.

Recycling will initially be carried out at a new Li-Cycle recycling plant in the Magdeburg area with expansion into other countries, including France.

“With this strategic partnership, we are taking an important step towards the circular economy that we want to implement for our products,” says KION chief technology officer Henry Puhl.

“The collaboration with Li-Cycle will further strengthen our position in the area of sustainability.”