BMW's mechanical recycling keeps battery materials in active use

BMW Group has inaugurated the Cell Recycling Competence Centre (CRCC) in Salching, Germany, a facility dedicated to mechanical direct recycling of battery cells and production scrap. Unlike conventional battery recycling methods that rely on energy-intensive chemical or thermal processes, BMW’s approach preserves active battery materials in a largely intact state, enabling their direct reuse in new battery cell manufacturing. The CRCC primarily processes unused cells and pilot production residues, which are more uniform than end-of-life batteries, facilitating a short-loop recycling system that reduces energy consumption, material losses, and dependence on newly mined raw materials. The recovered materials are sent to BMW’s Cell Manufacturing Competence Centre in Parsdorf, effectively closing the loop between production and recycling. This initiative is part of BMW’s broader 4Re strategy—rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle—and is integrated into its industrial battery production rather than functioning as a standalone recycling operation. The CRCC, operated by Encory (a joint venture between BMW and Interzero Group),