How Li-Cycle Solved the Battery Recycling Operations Puzzle

The Operations Podcast with Fexingo: Process, People, and Profit in Modern Business · Jun 5, 2026 · 7m · transcript

Lucas and Luna dive into the operational challenge of battery recycling, using Li-Cycle as the central case study. They explore how the company's hub-and-spoke model—with distributed shredding 'spokes' and a centralized hydrometallurgical 'hub'—solves the logistics nightmare of transporting hazardous lithium-ion batteries. The hosts break down the specific numbers: 95% recovery rates for critical materials like cobalt and nickel, and how the process avoids the energy-intensive smelting used by competitors. They also examine the operational bottleneck that nearly broke…