At the Hungarian Battery Day conference in Budapest, Olaf Rogge, Business Development Manager Recycling at BASF Battery Materials, outlined the company’s strategic vision for creating a competitive European ecosystem for battery recycling. His message was clear: Europe can only achieve industrial resilience and competitiveness through collaboration across borders and value chains.
Rogge stressed that the recycling of batteries is no longer only an environmental or resource-efficiency matter, but also a question of strategic autonomy. “Raw materials are being used as political measures of power,” he warned, pointing to the European Raw Materials Act as a response to this growing challenge. For BASF, building a network of recycling facilities in Europe means not just conserving resources, but ensuring that value creation remains within the continent. “It is important that we keep as many of the metals that are needed for local battery production within Europe and increase the resilience of our industry and our supply chains,” he explained.
Hungary’s rapid rise as a hub for cell manufacturing — fueled by major investments from South Korea and other Asian players — illustrates both the opportunities and the next challenge: managing production waste and setting up local recycling capacities. Rogge noted that BASF is already able to collect and process batteries across many European countries, but pointed to regulatory barriers that still complicate cross-border waste management. “For products we have a single European market. This is not the case for waste,” he observed, calling for clearer rules to allow companies with recycling know-how to operate across national borders.
A battery recycling hub in eastern Germany
BASF’s first major step has been its battery recycling hub in eastern Germany, where the company operates two facilities, including a prototype black mass refinery. The goal, said Rogge, is to recover battery-grade nickel, cobalt, and lithium that can re-enter the supply chain. “We have finalized the design for a large-scale hydrometallurgical plant which we are ready to go ahead with when the market provides the volume,” he announced.
Yet achieving scale remains the biggest hurdle. “Even Hungary, with all its new investments, will not be able to provide enough feed into such a plant to be operated at a competitive level,” Rogge said. No country and no company is big enough – for black mass, he said, Europe needs partnerships. BASF therefore plans to establish a network of regional hubs across Europe, to aggregate sufficient material for economically viable refining.
Rogge’s closing invitation was both pragmatic and visionary: cooperation is essential if Europe wants to secure its place in the global battery value chain. “It’s possible to do it in Europe, but it’s only possible if we do it in a collaborative way,” he emphasized. “Even a big company like BASF cannot do this alone.”
Through its push for partnerships, BASF is effectively calling for a European-wide alliance in battery recycling — one that combines industrial expertise, policy support, and regional cooperation to create a truly circular, competitive, and resilient supply chain for the energy transition.
The Hungarian Battery Day 2025, was organized by the Hungarian Battery Association (HUBA) and gathered key industry leaders, policymakers, and investors. Energynomics acted as media partner and Editor-in-Chief Gabriel Avăcăriței moderated the panel “Battery production and energy transition in Central and Eastern Europe”.
