SK Battery has agreed to pay a $31 million settlement to a recycling center near its Commerce plant which was destroyed by a fire last year.
SK settled the suit with Metro Site recycling center.
Investigators determined the recycling plant had received lithium-ion battery scraps in a shipment of recyclables from SK’s plant.
Commerce Fire Chief Steve Nichols has said that since 2020, firefighters have encountered four fires linked to battery remnants at Metro Site. The July 2023 blaze took four days and three million gallons of water to extinguish.
Earlier this year, the state fined SK $33,000 after the battery cells were found in the ruins of the recycling center.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) said the fine was part of a negotiated consent order. Enforcement Order EPD-HW-1950 | Georgia EPD Enforcement Orders (gaepd.org)
The recycling center did not have a permit to handle batteries among its recyclables and company officials said they did not know the batteries had been received at the facility.