COVINGTON, Ga. – Ascend Elements has restarted activity at its Covington site following a months-long pause brought on by safety concerns.
The Covington site of Ascend Elements is a lithium battery recycling plant. When the plant first opened in March 2023, it was North America’s largest electric vehicle battery recycling facility.
Though the idea of such technology may have seemed futuristic to some, the two years to come would highlight major safety issues, many of which stem from fire-related incidents.
Covington Fire Chief Joe Doss told The Covington News that “a series of responses” have been needed from the fire department since March 2023. This included at least 13 calls.
“Most of the incidents originated from batteries igniting while in storage waiting to begin the recycling process, that was 6 fires,” Doss said. “In addition, there were seven incidents of fire ignitions within the recycling process itself.”
All of this came to a head on Feb. 20, when a fire led to the plant’s shutdown.
Though the decision to pause operations was made internally, Doss told reporters with WSB-TV that the February fire was the largest incident at the site to date.
In response, Ascend indefinitely suspended operations in Covington.
On Aug. 25, having submitted a final fire affidavit to the city, Ascend resumed its work in Covington. But this did not come without many changes and a close look at the plant.
During the hiatus, several changes were implemented to improve safety features. Thomas Frey, senior director of marketing and communications for Ascend Elements, shared several of the enhancements with The News.
For one, Ascend Elements made personnel changes during its hiatus. This included executive changes, such as a new CEO, CFO, general counsel and vice president of engineering. At the local level, there is a recently-appointed Covington plant manager, as well as new managers of production, maintenance, logistics and safety management.
“According to Ascend, they have hired an all-new management team with extensive experience in large chemical production facilities, committed to implementing industry leading safety protocols,” Doss said. “CFD and City staff are committed to the full implementation and enforcement of all applicable codes and continue to work with Ascend to ensure that their operations comply with all of those requirements.
“We now have the final required affidavit from Ascend's fire protection engineer; therefore, operations may resume, subject to continued oversight by the City's fire marshal's office.”
Frey also noted that, to combat the continual fire-related issues, the company hired a “nationally recognized” fire protection engineer who independently evaluated the facility. They also utilized the services of a building code subject matter expert, who is reportedly currently engaged in the committee writing new fire codes.
Physically, Frey shared that Ascend has installed new safety features in the shredding line to “prevent and mitigate thermal events.” They added a new containment system that will aim to suppress and contain battery fires, and they enhanced systems for dust collection.
Battery packaging issues were also addressed. The company reviewed and updated its packaging, shipping, receiving and storage procedures. By doing so, they hope to mitigate lithium-ion battery fire hazards.
Ascend also established a zero-tolerance policy for improper battery packaging, going so far as to consider canceling long-term contracts when faced with improperly packaged shipments.
Furthermore, they increased their capacity to receive and store battery materials in remote, outdoor locations in order to increase safety. The company also explored autonomous scanning technology that they believe can help detect fire risks during the recycling process.
Finally, Ascend added expertise in hazardous waste management logistics and increased coordination with Covington’s first responders. This included three full-day on-site training sessions with the CFD.
The comprehensive changes and work towards increased safety were emphasized when three members of the company spoke during the citizen comments portion of the Aug. 18 Covington City Council Meeting.
Deacon Powell, the new general counsel, Linh Austin, the new president and CEO, and Andrew Gardner, the new Covington plant manager, together addressed the council. Austin spoke about the company’s investment in increased safety.
“For us, we’ve invested over $120 million into this facility, here in the city of Covington, to try and get this facility up and running,” Austin said. “I think, as a new management team, we’ve come in, we’ve made all the changes, we’ve upgraded the facility, we have grown in terms of increased standards, and so for us it’s the ability to demonstrate that those changes have taken place.”
