The city’s first large-scale electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling facility will be capable of handling batteries from about 20,000 cars after operations begin, the operator behind the project said on Friday.

Chun Yang International said the 100,000-square-foot plant, located in EcoPark in Tuen Mun, is expected to get going later this year.

According to managing director Kwok Ho-yee, the new facility will be able to recycle up to 97 percent of the EV batteries it processes, a 25 percent improvement over previous technology.

This, she said, would help reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 20 to 40 percent, while also cutting costs associated with shipping batteries overseas for dismantling.

The recycling process will also produce about 5,000 tonnes of “black mass” each year.

Black mass refers to metals such as lithium and cobalt found inside lithium-based batteries, which can be extracted as powder and processed for reuse.

Kwok said the black mass would be exported to the mainland or to countries in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Productivity Council announced that it would take part in the project as a technical consultant

The council’s chief innovation officer, Du Yonghai, said it would make recommendations on areas such as production line design and measures to reduce fire hazards.