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Update 6th June 2025 - SEPA update on battery site in Kilwinning

Previous action

SEPA served two statutory notices on Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd in July 2023 that required the reduction of special waste on site to a maximum of 100 tonnes. This was complied with before the 2024 fire incident in April 2024.

In May 2024, two further statutory notices were served that required the removal of processed and unprocessed waste batteries that had been on site for more than six months, in contravention with the waste management licence. The compliance date of 6th June 2024 was not complied with which resulted in SEPA suspending the licence.   

At the same time as issuing the statutory notices to remove processed and unprocessed waste batteries from site SEPA also suspended the waste management licence on the grounds that: 

• serious pollution of the environment has resulted from the activities to which the Licence relates 
• serious pollution of the environment and serious harm to human health is about to be caused by the threatened happening of an event affecting those activities.  

This prohibited any further waste batteries from being accepted onto site.   

Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd (in liquidation) entered voluntary liquidation in August 2024. The licence, statutory notices and suspension remain in place and Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd (in liquidation) continue to be responsible for compliance with the licence conditions and statutory notices in place.    

Response to 2025 fire

During the response to the 2025 fire incident SEPA was a key partner of the North Ayrshire Local Resilience Partnership (ALRP) and the Scientific Technical Advice Cell. We engaged with partners and provided regular updates as well as specialist advice.    

We will continue to provide updates via the ALRP which North Ayrshire Council are also members of as well as the smaller group of partners who engage directly with the landowner. As the response has moved into the recovery phase and the meeting of partners moves forward with a different focus SEPA will routinely provide updates on progress as appropriate and permitted within the confines of a continuing investigation.

Ongoing site management and further risk

The need for a multi-agency partnership approach remains in place and further collaboration is required to protect the environment and local communities.  

As the competent authority for regulating the waste management activities of the former site, SEPA continues to engage with Fenix Battery Recycling Ltd (in liquidation) and using our available powers to require compliance with the waste management licence that remains in place until the company is dissolved. We are also exercising other powers available to us to use all available levers to require the removal of waste material from the site.  

The landowner has deployed a number of measures to minimise the risk of a further fire incident at site to include 24 hour, in person security, dust suppression equipment and have also just completed the first stage of identifying the highest risk material for combustion and placed this into specialist containment on site called LiBat boxes. Work on site continues to further reduce the risk of further incident during the finalisation of the steps being undertaken to remove all wastes from site. 

SEPA remain committed to a robust investigation and will consider any further actions required. We will share information when it is appropriate to do so, ensuring the integrity of the ongoing process.