Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, I'll provide a little background on myself. I'm originally from Detroit. My profession is growing industrial companies into global markets. I have led a construction tool business in Belgium, a medical device company in Sweden and an automotive test manufacturer in Seattle. I have a master's in business from Harvard Business School and a master's of engineering from the University of Michigan. I immigrated to Canada in 2019 and will become a proud Canadian citizen this year.
: KC Recycling is the only lead battery recycler in the Pacific Northwest. The closest alternatives are 2,000 kilometres away in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Canada has two other recycling plants in Mississauga and Montreal.
Lead batteries are the most recycled product on earth, with over 99% recycled, and new batteries contain 80% recycled content. However, we are closing recycling plants at a rate of one per year and only have 12 remaining in the U.S. and Canada.
KC Recycling produces 40,000 tonnes of lead and 3,000 tonnes of polypropylene annually. As an industry, we export almost all of this recycled material to the U.S. and Asia. Lead batteries are critical to the electrification of Canada and are booming, replacing propane in forklifts, golf carts and floor sweepers. Huge banks of lead batteries provide backup power for critical infrastructure, including hospitals, telecom and solar facilities.
In five years, KC Recycling has nearly doubled production to keep up with the booming demand for lead.
There are three opportunities for policy to support this critical industry.
First and foremost, we need to stop the export of used Canadian batteries. Canada is spending billions of dollars to build a new lithium battery circular economy. Northvolt,E3, Li-Cycle are examples. This is important, and we must continue to do this.
We must also support the existing lead battery circular economy, which took decades to build. Lead is a battery metal. Lead is a critical mineral for electrification. Therefore, used lead batteries are a critical Canadian resource. Used batteries are considered hazardous waste per the Basel Convention. Batteries exported to non-OECD countries are melted in shocking burn pits, which has resulted in childhood lead poisoning around the globe.
Despite this, Vancouver has become a major exporter to Asia, forcing KC Recycling to import over half of our batteries from the United States. The same is happening here in eastern Canada.
I ask that the ECCC reject export permits when we have domestic capacity available. This is actually how Australia has implemented the Basel Convention to protect their industry.
I ask that the CBSA inspect shipments from known exporters to stop the illegal export to non-OECD countries.
I ask you to enforce hazardous waste regulations and close unpermitted exporting warehouses. The exporters are well known; there is only a handful, and they can be addressed today.
Second, we should add lead to Canada's critical minerals list. As you now know, lead is a vital battery metal just like lithium, cobalt, graphite and nickel, which are all on the list. The primary Canadian source of lead is from recycled lead batteries.
Due to the hazardous nature of recycling lead, it is difficult to access traditional sources of funding. Banks and insurance companies run from my company. Having the financial backing of the Canadian government would enable rapid growth and innovation.
Third, we should expand recycled-content legislation to industrial plastic. KC Recycling is a major producer of recycled polypropylene, number five on the little triangle on all plastic products. Unfortunately, many plastics manufacturers will not purchase recycled plastic because virgin sources are less expensive. You have already fixed this issue in plastic packaging by mandating recycled content for pop bottles and plastic bags, which are numbers one and two. However, polypropylene is not a packaging plastic and is mostly used in industrial applications like automotive parts, buckets and sheeting. As a result, polypropylene has the lowest recycling rate of the plastics at about 5%.
I encourage you to expand legislation to these industrial applications.
On behalf of the 75 hard-working employees at KC Recycling, thank you for your time and attention.