How to Build One Business Right on Top of Another One 101 (from Reuters):

“Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel wants to build his startup Redwood Materials into the world’s top battery recycling company and one of the largest battery materials companies, he said at a technology conference Wednesday.

“Straubel aims to leverage two partnerships, one with Panasonic Corp 6752.T, the Japanese battery manufacturer that is teamed with Tesla TSLA.O at the Nevada gigafactory, and one announced weeks ago with e-commerce giant Amazon AMZN.O.

“With production of electric vehicles and batteries about to explode, Straubel says his ultimate goal is to “make a material impact on sustainability, at an industrial scale.”

How are they doing so far?

“Established in early 2017, Redwood this year will recycle more than 1 gigawatt-hours’ worth of battery scrap materials from the gigafactory — enough to power more than 10,000 Tesla cars.”

The end goal:

“Straubel’s broader plan is to dramatically reduce mining of raw materials such as nickel, copper and cobalt over several decades by building out a circular or “closed loop” supply chain that recycles and recirculates materials retrieved from end-of-life vehicle and grid storage batteries and from cells scrapped during manufacturing”

Tesla is already talking about bringing in cobalt-free batteries, so might have to scratch that one off the list, the way things are going.

The big-picture concept is not hidden subtly in their logo:

I wish them well.