Industrial battery recycling means collecting dead or damaged batteries from factories, solar systems, telecom sites, EVs, and e-mobility fleets, then recovering useful materials or repurposing the batteries for second-life energy storage.
As energy use grows across Africa, a few companies are taking the lead in building real recycling and reuse capacity.
Here are the Top 5 Industrial Battery Recycling Companies in Africa, according to public operations, project scale, and recycling ambition (Q4 2025):
— ACE Green Recycling / Tabono Joint Venture (South Africa): ACE Green Recycling is partnering with Tabono to build new recycling facilities in South Africa that will handle both lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries. Their technology is hydrometallurgical and designed to operate with zero Scope 1 emissions.
— Ecolith Africa Solutions (Kenya): Focuses on collecting and processing used lithium-ion cells from e-waste. The company repurposes recovered cells into second-life battery packs for industrial and solar energy storage. Their work supports circular use even though full metals recovery is still in development.
— First Battery Recycling (South Africa): Operates a large lead-acid battery recycling plant in Benoni with a breaker, an acid treatment system, a lead smelter, and a plastic recovery line. The facility supports industrial recycling at significant scale.
— Green Recycling Industries (Nigeria): Recycles industrial and automotive lead-acid batteries, recovering up to 99.5 percent of lead alongside plastic and electrolyte. Uses automated systems for safe and efficient processing.
— Relithia Energy (Pan-Africa): An emerging lithium-ion recycling company working on Africa-focused pilot projects. Their model uses mechanical shredding and low-temperature processing to recover valuable materials. They are expanding gradually across the continent.
Africa’s industrial battery recycling landscape is growing as demand for safe disposal and material recovery increases. These companies represent the continent’s most active efforts toward responsible recycling and second-life innovation.
Image Credit: GME Recycling
