A peak industry body has revealed that insurance costs are a significant challenge for battery recycling businesses in Australia. During an inquiry hearing on the EV (electric vehicle) transition on July 25, Association for the Battery Recycling Industry CEO Katharine Hole said insurance premiums for the sector had soared by 100-200 percent in the past 12 months. While the CEO acknowledged that recycling lithium batteries was a dangerous business, she said a major reason for the insurance premium hike was the incorrect disposal of batteries and the fires that it was causing.
“How do you manage those batteries at the end of life? Where can they go because there’s not always solutions for drop-off that are convenient or easy for households,” she said. While Ms. Hole said some companies had take-back programs for their products, it was hard for time-poor households to find out where to dispose of batteries.
“[It is] easier in a metro area., But if you’re out in a regional area and you don’t want those batteries left in the car and hot sun while you’re waiting to do something and drop them off, there’s a lot of gaps that need to be plugged,” she said.
Australian Council of Recycling CEO Suzanne Toumbourou said there was a crisis regarding incorrect battery disposal in Australia. “I’d say, at the moment, we’re in a crisis relating to incorrectly disposed of batteries that cause fires in all types of facilities, from bins to trucks to material recycling facilities to metal recyclers to e-waste recyclers to plastic reprocesses,” she said.
Ms. Toumbourou noted that the definition of battery here was broad and covered a wide range of household products. “When we say batteries, what we mean is anything that has or is a battery, not just your loose AAs,” she explained.
Regarding the consequences of incorrect battery disposal, Ms. Toumbourou stated consumer batteries caused over 10,000 fires every year across Australia’s waste and recycling facilities. Only 11 percent of those fires were dealt with by fire and rescue services while others were put out by sector workers.
In addition, Ms.Toumbourou gave an example where tens of millions worth infrastructure got destroyed due fire caused by vapes at Canberra’s recycling facility.
At same time Katharine Hole told committee about cost involved with logistics as biggest cost involved with Battery Recycling process.
She also mentioned lack transparency among manufacturers when it comes taking back used Batteries.
