Battery blast firm was blocked from operating at English HQ after damning report (2025)

Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd and directors were slammed in report by Environment Agency, who cited

The firm behind a battery recycling plant that exploded twice in a year was refused a licence to operate in England.

The Daily Record can reveal that Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd was slammed in a report by the Environment Agency in 2022 and blocked from operating in the Midlands.

The EA – the equivalent of Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) – issued the scathing report that scuppered plans for a plant in Willenhall, near Birmingham.

The report hammered the firm and its directors, stating Fenix was not considered competent to operate the site “given its previous poor history of compliance and those of its directors, as well as reasons relating to technical competence”.

The report added: “We do not consider that the applicant will ensure the regulated facility is operated so as to comply with the conditions that would have been included in the permit for reasons relating to operator competence”.

After the company was stopped in its tracks at Willenhall, director Damian Lambkin said it would focus its attention on its new plant at Kilwinning.

But its activities there have ended in disaster, with two explosions a year apart, including one on Wednesday.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it has launched a prob

Local resident Laura Dobbie, 42, said she was furious to hear that the company – now in liquidation with £2million debts – was allowed to set up in Scotland after major question marks were raised in England.

And she demanded a rigorous investigation into how volatile materials were left at the site, to explode again, after the first big fire in 2024.

Laura, a cleaner, said: “This beggars belief. Surely anyone handling such dangerous material should be taking zero chances.

“This company was responsible for the safety of everyone living nearby but they put lives at risk. There should be a proper investigation into all the shortcomings."

Laura said she was shocked as the blue sky went black with smoke and batteries began to explode in the air.

In September last year, Sepa revoked Fenix’s waste management licence as part of an “enhanced package of enforcement action”.

Fenix had been given a target of last June to remove fire debris, repair damaged infrastructure and implement a fire prevention and mitigation plan. The firm’s directors include Lambkin, of Exeter, who was personally named in a report on the Willenhall site licence application by the Environment Agency.

The EA report in April 2022 killed off plans for a mixed chemistry battery recycling facility. It stated that Fenix’s application to both transfer and treat old batteries was “deficient in several important areas”.

It claimed management details were out of date and the application did not clearly demonstrate how all waste would be handled and stored.

The report singled out concerns over the black mass from the alkaline battery processing, stating “there is no reference as to how it is handled and stored to prevent pollution of the environment and/or harm to human health”.

On the Fenix directors, it states: “While it is acknowledged that neither the applicant [Fenix] nor its directors hold formal relevant convictions, there is, nevertheless, such a persistently poor record of compliance associated with the Willenhall site and other sites run and/or managed by the directors of the applicant.”

Fenix, Ever Resource and the University of Birmingham received £995,000 funding from the Government’s Innovate UK Smart Grants programme to develop technology for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries.

When approached by the Daily Record, Lambkin said the EA’s decision on the Willenhall licence had been influenced by charges brought against him, for which he was later cleared of in court. He added: “Regarding the fire at the Kilwinning facility, I must make clear I have had no involvement with the site or the company’s operations since I was made redundant in 2024.

“The company entered liquidation that same year and all responsibilities — including site safety, compliance and ongoing management — passed to the appointed liquidators, Revolution RTI.”

He added: “I deeply sympathise with the residents of Kilwinning affected by this latest incident.

“The well-being of the local community is of paramount importance and I trust that the appropriate authorities are taking every step to safeguard the area and address any risks.”