battery recycling

Exide Technologies has been hit with a grand jury subpoena in connection with a criminal investigation involving its Vernon lead-recycling plant in California.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Exide revealed the August 8 subpoena seeks "documents relating to materials transportation and air emissions." Exide itself and "certain unidentified individuals" are targets of the investigation" being conducted by the Justice Department in the Central District of California.

California's South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Hearing Board has given Exide permission to reopen its Vernon lead smelter after the company installed environmental protections.

The protections include air quality control equipment that monitors arsenic emissions and stops lead-contaminated dust from being released during upgrades. Exide is also obliged to submit monthly status reports to the AQMD Hearing Board.

Automotive battery makers have urged China to issue battery recycling standards and clamp down on illegal vendors, the South China Morning Post reported.

Most used car batteries on China’s mainland are collected by small, unlicensed vendors who hazardously dispose the battery after selling the lead to other suppliers, according to Kenneth Yeng, vice-president and general manager of Johnson Control.