I visited the largest battery recycler in North America. Take a look at its huge desert campus.

Alistair Barr stands in front of battery recycling machinery at the Redwood Materials campus — I checked out Redwood Materials’ battery recycling plant in Reno, Nevada.

Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Redwood Materials, run by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel, is building the biggest battery recycling operation in North America.

If you’ve ever handed old laptops or smartphones to a recycling center, it’s likely they ended up on a giant lot in front of Redwood Materials’ 300-acre campus.

I visited the company in March and got a tour around a network of vast buildings in the high desert east of Reno, Nevada, where Redwood is still building and expanding rapidly.

This was the view as I drove up to the campus entrance.

Alistair Barr takes a selfie before driving up to the Redwood Materials campus east of Reno, Nevada — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

A LOT of Teslas were parked outside, charging away.

Tesla cars parked outside a Redwood Materials building — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

I took a little selfie before heading inside to meet the Redwood crew.

Alistair Barr takes a selfie in the car park of the Redwood Materials campus east of Reno, Nevada — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

The check-in area is powered by… you guessed it, a battery.

Redwood Materials entrance — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Employees and visitors can even drop off old batteries.

A battery recycling drop-off box at Redwood Materials — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

The company’s main office is cavernous. There’s a lot more room for more employees!

A Redwood Materials office — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Redwood’s offices are named after things that go in batteries, such as nickel, manganese, and lithium.

Offices inside a Redwood Materials building — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

I had to wear a hard hat and protective glasses for the tour.

Alistair Barr wears a hard hat inside a Redwood Materials building — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

My guide, Adam Kirby from Redwood Materials, wore the same gear. He looked better.

Alistair Barr (left) with Adam Kirby from Redwood Materials — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Batteries wait to be recycled in front of the Redwood Materials main building.

Batteries waiting to be recycled by Redwood Materials — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Here, I try to look manly in front of very large, complex battery-recycling machinery.

This is where Redwood filters and cleans volatile organic compounds released by the initial recycling stage.

I met Hiromu Sugiyama, director of battery materials technology at Redwood Materials.

Alistair Barr (left) with Hiromu Sugiyama, director of battery materials technology at Redwood Materials — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

Sugiyama took me inside a secret chemistry lab, but I wasn’t allowed to take photos. Here’s one Redwood shared.

A Redwood Materials chemistry lab — Redwood Materials

Redwood is making a substance known as CAM, a valuable part of EV batteries.

A worker holds a box containing Cathode Active Material, or CAM — Redwood Materials

After visiting the chemistry lab, we drove past a giant CAM manufacturing facility being built on the Redwood campus.

A CAM manufacturing facility being built on the Redwood Materials campus — Alistair Barr/Business Insider

This is a view from the other side of the CAM facility. There’s room for several more of these buildings!

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