Dubatt Battery Recycling’s fully integrated battery recycling plant – the first of its kind in the UAE – has been formally inaugurated at Dubai Industrial City, part of TECOM Group PJSC. Dubatt signed a musataha agreement during the inauguration ceremony to expand the plant, raising its total investment at Dubai Industrial City to AED 216 million.
The factory is aligned with the goals of the UAE Industrial Decarbonisation Roadmap, the UAE Circular Economy Policy 2031, and Dubai Integrated Waste Management Strategy 2041 to stimulate sustainable industrial and economic development. The ingots manufactured at Dubatt’s plant will be used to produce new batteries, creating a circular economy that furthers the UAE’s sustainability agenda in line with the goals of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology’s Operation 300bn programme. Battery products manufactured at the end of the production cycle will be sold in the UAE and exported across the GCC, Europe, and Far East, supporting the Make it in the Emirates initiative to strengthen the supply chain for locally manufactured products.
With a built-up area of 65,000 sq.ft., Dubatt’s state-of-the-art plant, worth AED 120 million, is equipped with advanced battery breaking, separating, smelting, and refining technologies to safely extract hazardous waste from used lead acid batteries, recycling up to 80% of battery waste produced in the UAE to manufacture lead ingots.
The plant’s inauguration follows months of trials to complete approval and audit processes with government and environmental stakeholders, and its planned expansion, spanning 50,000 sq.ft. of built-up area, is expected to raise Dubatt’s turnover to AED 200 million. Upon completion, the AED 96 million expansion will raise the factory’s lead acid battery recycling capacity to 75,000 metric tonnes (MT) a year, in addition to introducing dedicated lines for lead billets, wires and lead shots, in addition to a grinding, and granulation line for 3,600 MT of battery plastics, 5,000 MT of lithium batteries, and 7,000 MT of e-waste.
The improper disposal of battery scrap can contaminate soil and groundwater, which is an environmental and health hazard. According to Dubatt’s estimates, around 90% of the lead acid battery scrap generated in the UAE is exported for recycling. Dubatt’s factory at Dubai Industrial City will localise the recycling of used battery waste, ensuring the safer treatment of waste materials.