Redwood and Panasonic closed-loop supply

The Panasonic deal mattered because it gave Redwood the hardest thing to win in battery recycling, steady factory scrap from a live cell plant a few miles away. That meant predictable feedstock, fast logistics, and a buyer relationship with the same battery ecosystem from day one. Redwood used that entry point to move from hauling away waste, to refining metals, to selling copper foil and cathode material back into Panasonic’s battery supply chain.1 2 3 4

• In 2019, Redwood began recycling Panasonic’s manufacturing scrap from the Nevada Gigafactory. By 2022, Redwood said the copper from that scrap would be remanufactured into anode foil and returned to Panasonic at the same site, turning a disposal contract into a true closed loop materials contract.1 2
• This is different from recyclers that mostly process mixed end of life batteries. Factory scrap is cleaner, more uniform, and arrives every day, which makes recovery cheaper and lets Redwood tune its process around one customer’s chemistry and production flow. That operational learning is what let Redwood expand into battery grade components.4 5
• The Panasonic relationship also became Redwood’s bridge into larger domestic supply deals. Panasonic later agreed to source Redwood’s copper foil for Nevada and high nickel cathode for Kansas, showing Redwood was no longer just a recycler, but a local battery materials supplier inside a U.S. gigafactory buildout.2 3 6

From here, the winning model is likely to be fewer standalone recyclers and more companies that control the full loop, from scrap pickup to battery components. Redwood’s early foothold inside Panasonic’s Nevada operation positioned it for that shift, and points toward a market where logistics, refining, and component manufacturing increasingly sit under one roof.3 4 6