Waste and recycling workers face increasing risks as fires ignite from lithium-ion batteries, the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia said.
It has demanded immediate action to come up with a solution to the battery-fire crisis enveloping the industry, calling for collection points for all batteries in all states while a plan is developed.
Tanya Plibersek will deliver a list of steps to be taken to manage battery harm by December. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Friday met with her state and territory counterparts in Sydney to discuss better ways to manage battery disposal.
The ministers acknowledged battery fires were an issue of priority that required "interventions through the battery life cycle".
"Ongoing fires and emergency situations illustrate the critical importance of acting quickly on batteries to protect lives and property," they said in a joint statement.
The leaders committed to fast-track work towards reducing the environmental impact of all batteries throughout their life cycle, with Queensland, NSW and Victoria leading the charge.
Ms Plibersek said she was heartened by the strong leadership of state and territory environment ministers and their agreement to ambitious national targets.
The ministers will deliver a list of steps to be taken to manage battery harm by December.
Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association chief executive Gayle Sloan called for batteries to be diverted from kerbside bins, trucks and facilities as they were not designed to collect the potentially incendiary devices.
"Our industry is fast approaching a time when we will not be able to insure our trucks and facilities, which will mean services to the community will be in doubt," she said.
Waste and recycling workers face increasing risks from fires ignited by lithium-ion batteries. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
"Our workers and facilities need to be safe, just like every other industry.Â
"We cannot continue as is with the rate of fires."
The Association for the Battery Recycling Industry agreed urgent action was needed on the safe disposal of batteries, and called for a strategic focus on technology.
Australians throw away $600 million to $3.1 billion of valuable materials in lithium batteries by not recycling them, a Future Batteries Industry Co-operative Research Centre report has found.
B-Cycle, the national battery recycling scheme, accepts common types of household batteries including those that power remote controls, gaming handsets and fire alarms.
However, it does not take mobile phone and computer batteries because there are other established recycling programs for those.
The industry body is also calling for community education about how to dispose of batteries and what products to buy.
Thirty-nine per cent of Australians don't know how to correctly dispose of lithium-ion batteries, a consumer watchdog survey of more than 4000 people in 2023 found.
Lithium battery volumes are projected to grow from 32,000 tonnes to more than 100,000 tonnes over the next decade, largely driven by electric vehicle and energy storage batteries reaching end of life.
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