En Tsumugi is investing in a lithium-ion battery recycling facility in the Philippines, betting on growing demand for local capacity to recover critical minerals as the country’s electric vehicle and battery industries develop.
The company said the project is now under way and will process spent lithium-ion batteries from automobiles, appliances and personal electronic devices using a “black mass” process.
The facility is expected to recover materials including lithium, copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, converting used batteries into a form that can be transported for further refining and reuse.
The investment gives En Tsumugi a foothold in a segment that could become increasingly important as battery-powered vehicles and devices generate larger volumes of end-of-life batteries. It also adds a recycling and materials-recovery component to the Philippines’ push to build value around its critical-minerals resources.
Toyota is among En Tsumugi’s automotive clients, providing a potential link between the recycling project and the country’s vehicle sector. The relationship could also create an eventual end-of-life pathway for batteries used in electrified vehicles, although the scale of future battery volumes will depend on the pace of vehicle electrification.
En Tsumugi plans to install the recycling equipment in three phases, with completion targeted by the end of 2026. Commercial operations are expected to begin in early 2027, with the facility serving automotive customers as well as other industrial partners.
The company is also seeking to expand the scope of its licenses and permits to cover the facility’s planned operations, underscoring the regulatory requirements involved in establishing a domestic battery-recycling chain.
For the Philippines, local processing could offer an alternative to sending whole spent batteries overseas for treatment. Converting batteries into black mass can make recovered material more transportable, although additional refining is still required to separate and recover individual minerals at higher purity.
The project therefore represents an early downstream step rather than a complete domestic battery-recycling ecosystem. Its longer-term commercial potential will depend on the availability of feedstock, regulatory approvals, battery collection networks and demand for recovered materials.
Still, by establishing capacity to process battery waste locally, En Tsumugi’s investment could help connect the Philippines’ growing electric-vehicle market with its broader critical-minerals and manufacturing ambitions, creating a potential circular pathway from used batteries back into industrial supply chains.
