After announcing their plans for a facility in Hopkinsville in 2022, members of Ascend Elements shared facility updates and plans to get involved in the community with their Equity Program at Thursday’s Kiwanis Club meeting.
Kiwanians heard from Hopkinsville Ascend Elements Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator, Emily Smith who says their Hopkinsville Apex 1 facility will play a pivotal role in battery material recycling.
The Hopkinsville Facility will be the fourth Ascend facility in the United States after their headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts, their battery lab in Novi, Michigan and their commercial recycling facility in Covington, Georgia,
Smith says battery materials from the Covington facility will be sent to the Hopkinsville facility to create what Smith calls a full battery recycling loop.
After the battery material is processed at the Hopkinsville facility it will be able to be used in battery manufacturing.
Along with their planned facility, Hopkinsville Ascend Elements Equity Program Manager DeeAnna Sova says they plan to play a role in the community after receiving a grant from the Department of Energy.
With the grant, Sova says they are working to establish affordable childcare by investing into the Christian County School System and they are planning to support public transportation in the county.
To further play a role in the community Sova says they have launched their Equity Program which has already done work with the Hopkinsville-Christian County Boys and Girl Club, Jeffers Bend Environmental Center and provided support to the families who lost their loved ones in the two HH60 Helicopter wrecks that occurred in Cadiz in March.
Hopkinsville’s Apex 1 facility is set to begin operations by fall of 2024.