Tue, 2nd Jul, 2019
KMK Metals Recycling recently held two days of battery recycling management best practice sessions with Johan van Peperzeel, a Dutch battery expert of global renown, our industry leading WEEELABEX certified treatment facility in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Some staff members from WEEE Ireland were also invited to attend.
Van Peperzeel is a veteran of portable waste battery and lead acid car battery management, and is the managing director of Van Peperzeel and Van Peperzeel Services, a large-scale waste battery sorting plant, which has operated in the Netherlands for the past two decades. He brought industry-leading expertise with him to Ireland, and came equipped with vast experience on safety, sorting and handling portable, industrial and automotive batteries.
The two-day schedule included a tour of KMK’s specialist treatment facilities, knowledge sharing sessions on incident analyses with Li-ion and lithium batteries, and instructions on emerging developments for risk and safety as they relate to tech, e-bike, PEH and EV batteries. These sessions were a continuation of Johan’s previous visits to consult with KMK Metals and WEEE Ireland on the rollout of the Irish waste battery sorting system in 2008.
Kurt Kyck, Managing Director of KMK Metals Recycling, said: “The inclusion of lithium batteries in so many consumer devices creates new challenges for WEEE recycling at end of life in Ireland. The benefits of new technologies to power our lives or businesses has to be balanced against the cost and ability to recycle and recover when they become waste. For KMK Metals Recycling, having Mr Johan van Peperzeel, an international expert on this topic, working with us supports our continued development as leading Irish operators and innovators in waste battery environmental and safety management”.
