Exide agrees to shutter Vernon battery recycling plant

LOS ANGELES (Scrap Monster): Exide Technologies has agreed to immediately close down its lead-acid battery recycling facility in Vernon, California. The company has also agreed to pay $50 million in clean-up costs in order to avoid prosecution. The deal was reached late Wednesday at the US Attorney’s office.

As per deal, Exide will permanently cease recycling operations at the plant and demolish the facility. Furthermore, it has agreed to clean up groundwater contamination caused to surrounding areas. The Attorney’s office had pressed for closure of the facility in exchange for dropping prosecution proceedings against the company. The agreement is pending approval by the court handling its bankruptcy petition. Meantime, a hearing in the bankruptcy case is scheduled for March 27.

Earlier in January this year, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has issued eight violations against Exide Technologies at its battery recycling facility in Vernon, California. The violations were spotted during the inspection held during Jan 20^th to 21^st. The authorities had noted serious violations including unauthorized treatment of contaminated sludge in tanks at site. The inspection officers also found that the company failed to implement sufficient protection against spills from storage area where hazardous battery acid is stored.

Exide Technologies is one of the major players in the battery recycling industry and had been operating the Vernon plant since 1922. The plant which has a recycling capacity of around 8 million batteries per annum had been idle last year due to its failure to comply with air quality standards.