Resource Recovery Archives

Viva Energy and Cleanaway team up to address hard-to-recycle plastic waste

Cleanaway and Viva Energy today announced they have entered into an agreement to undertake a prefeasibility assessment of a circular solution for soft plastics and other hard-to-recycle plastics currently sent to landfill and transform them back into feedstock for food-grade plastic resin.

Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

April 15, 2024

Tags: Plastics

Highlights

The partners want to provide a sustainable soft-plastics solution for food manufacturers and packaging specialists seeking to cater to the growing environmentally conscious market, as well as households and businesses who want a landfill-diversion option.

The facility being assessed would incorporate a dedicated sorting and mechanical pre-treatment plant and an advanced chemical recycling plant to convert waste plastic into plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO), a feedstock for co-processing at Viva Energy’s Geelong Refinery. Recycled plastic manufactured through this process would have identical properties to virgin resin, opening the potential for food manufacturers to use recycled packaging.

The project could provide an important solution for food manufacturers and packaging specialists to meet their obligations under the Australian Government’s new recycling regulatory scheme that is expected to be in place by the end of 2025. Implementation of the packaging reform with mandatory obligations and a product-stewardship scheme for soft plastics are critical to enable this investment.

This project follows Viva Energy’s announcement in May last year that it intends to introduce coprocessing at its Geelong Refinery as part of it’s plans to transform the site into a broader energy hub. Co-processing will allow the refinery to demonstrate the important role it will play in plastic recycling while also reducing the facility’s carbon footprint.

For Cleanaway, pursuing this opportunity is part of its broader focus on providing low-carbon, high circularity solutions that reduce the need for virgin resources and lift Australia’s recycling rates.Assessing the potential for a circular solution for soft and other hard-to-recycle plastics follows Cleanaway’s recent investment in three Circular Plastics Australia recycling plants in Melbourne and Albury which process PET beverage bottles, milk bottles and other plastic packaging to create food and non-food grade resins to make new packaging.

Viva Energy Chief Business Development and Sustainability Officer Lachlan Pfeiffer said the project offers a significant advance in addressing Australia’s plastic waste issue. “For Australia to have the ability to recycle its own plastic – a true circular economy – we need to have a facility like this to convert waste plastic to pyrolysis oil on a commercial scale,” Mr Pfeiffer said. “If feasible, over time it will support a market for plastic collection and processing while also providing the pyrolysis oil we need to allow the refinery to produce recycled food-grade plastic. It will be a true end-to-end
solution for manufacturers.”

“This strategic alliance forms an exciting foundation on which to pursue a circular solution for soft plastics. It brings together Cleanaway’s experience and strategic infrastructure in the waste collection and processing sector, with the processing capability of Viva Energy’s refinery and polypropylene plant.”

Cleanaway Executive General Manager, Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, Frank Lintvelt said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Cleanaway to expand our existing operations enabling plastic and packaging circularity in Australia. We are looking forward to leveraging our experience piloting new collection methods for soft plastics alongside Viva Energy’s refining capability. “An end-to-end circular solution for soft plastics is desired by many of our customers, consumers and governments. We are keen to progress this early-stage planning work, so that once we have a federally harmonised policy framework for plastic packaging and mandatory obligations for packaging design, recovery, and recycled content – together, we can provide a circular plastic packaging solution in Australia,” said Mr Lintvelt.

Viva Energy Media Enquiries
Michael Cave
T: +61 409 647 910
E: michael.cave@vivaenergy.com.au

Cleanaway Media Enquiries
Mark Biddulph
T: +61 499 332 601
E: mark.biddulph@cleanaway.com.au

About Cleanaway
Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (ASX: CWY) is Australia’s leading waste management company with a national network of unique collection, processing, treatment and landfill assets. Cleanaway operates from more than 350 locations and employs more than 7,600 people. Our philosophy is that all waste is a resource and we aim to incorporate recovery, recycling and reuse throughout our operations and those of our clients. Our mission is making a sustainable future possible together.

Circular Plastics Australia (PET) is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, Asahi Beverages, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP). Circular Plastics Australia (PE) is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd.

About Viva Energy
Viva Energy (ASX: VEA) is a leading convenience retailer, commercial services and energy infrastructure business, with a history spanning more than 120 years in Australia. The Group operates a convenience and fuel network of almost 900 stores across Australia, and exclusively supplies fuels and lubricants to a total network of approximately 1,500 service stations. Viva Energy owns and operates the strategically located Geelong Refinery in Victoria, and operates bulk fuels, aviation, bitumen, marine, chemicals, polymers and lubricants businesses supported by more than 20 terminals and 60 airports and airfields across the country. www.vivaenergy.com.au

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Cleanaway celebrates five years of serving Brisbane through Resource Recovery Innovation Alliance (RRIA)

Communities - Our Services - Partnerships - Resource Recovery

August 7, 2023

Highlights

“At the heart of this complex operation are the people, approximately 100 individuals from the RRIA administration team, resource recovery operators, drivers and the Brisbane Landfill team. These individuals are providing a truly essential service that keeps our city clean, green and healthy.”

“I truly believe the next five years are going to be really exciting and the work rewarding. We’ll be augmenting the systems we have in place to further remove garden organics and food organics while continuing to work on reducing resource losses.”

Tags: Communities

Highlights

Cleanaway and Brisbane City Council (BCC) officially launched the Resource Recovery Innovation Alliance (RRIA) in 2018. The alliance is a ten-year partnership for the management of Brisbane’s waste.

Under the alliance Cleanaway provides BCC with post collection and haulage services, operating five facilities – Brisbane Landfill (Rochedale) and four resource recovery centres (Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee and Willawong).

During the 2022 floods this was expanded to 10 facilities in total. This included three temporary resource recovery centres set up specially for ‘Operation Collect’ which cleared 100,000 tonnes of waste during the crisis.

Pictured: Cleanaway trucks delivering flood waste gathered from Operation Collect to Brisbane Landfill.

Pictured: Cleanaway Executive General Manager, Solid Waste Services Tracey Boyes (far left) with the Brisbane Landfill team. From left to right: Operator Duane Campbell, Admin Supervisor Kim Riddles, Supervisor Ewan Brooks, Branch Manager Joel McCumstie, Leading Hand Paul Adams, Supervisor Shaun Gilshenan and Queensland General Manager, Solid Waste Services Aaron Carter.

Pictured: The Chandler Resource Recovery Centre team (from left to right): Operator Rob Gorman, Queensland General Manager, Solid Waste Services Aaron Carter, Supervisor Ewan Brooks, Operator Adam Watt, Health & Safety Business Partner Emily Sime, Queensland Fleet Equipment Manager Matt Baxter, Operator Cliff McRoberts and Resource Recovery new starter Michael Howe.

2023 marks the fifth anniversary of the RRIA. To date the alliance has served the Brisbane community by:

serving over 5.8 million customers
transporting over 2.5 million tonnes of general waste
diverting over 500,000 tonnes of waste from landfill via resource recovery operations.

RRIA Operations Manager Shannon Gorman said, “At the heart of this complex operation are the people, approximately 100 individuals from the RRIA administration team, resource recovery operators, drivers and the Brisbane Landfill team. These individuals are providing a truly essential service that keeps our city clean, green and healthy.”

“This is on top of constantly looking for new and emerging markets for recoverable materials.”

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

What does a circular economy look like in practice?

Partnerships - Resource Recovery

July 3, 2023

Highlights

“Cleanaway’s Recycling Behaviours Report 2023 confirms that 24% of Australians view the construction of onshore infrastructure to do the recycling, reprocessing and manufacture for the circular economy as the top priority."

Tags: Recycling

Highlights

A circular economy is the opposite of a linear economy which relies on a “take-make-dispose” model. In a circular economy, recycled material is used to make new products, instead of precious virgin raw material, creating a closed loop on finite resources.

Container deposit schemes (CDS) demonstrate circularity in motion

By recycling used bottles and cans into new beverage containers, we can close the loop on hard plastics and aluminium and minimise the volume of these materials from entering our litter streams.

Cleanaway is Australia’s largest collector of PET, HDPE and PP plastics through our involvement in current container deposit schemes in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.

In April 2023 TOMRA Cleanaway was appointed the West Zone Operator for Victoria’s CDS (CDS Vic), with Cleanaway proudly providing logistics services and commodity management. With a population of over 2 million, the west zone equates to approximately one-third of the state in geographic terms.

The scheme is expected to commence on 1 November 2023. It is estimated that half a billion eligible drink containers will be collected through these zones annually.

Pictured: Plastic bottles that have been sorted and compressed into bales for recycling at Cleanaway’s Eastern Creek facility.

Strategic partnerships through Circular Plastics Australia

Our involvement in Circular Plastics Australia (PET) a joint venture partnership between Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, Asahi Beverages, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) is another way we’re contributing to the local circular economy.

The first CPA (PET) recycling facility in Albury is capable of recycling more than 28,000 tonnes of PET annually, or roughly 1 billion 600ml PET plastic bottles each year collected through CDS or kerbside recycling.

The second CPA (PET) facility in Altona, Melbourne is on track for completion in September 2023 and will have similar recycling capacity as the CPA (PET) Albury facility.

The CPA (PET) Albury facility was supported by a $5 million grant through the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, with the support of the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund.

The CPA (PET) project in Altona, Melbourne has received $6 million in funding through the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund and the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria – Recycling Modernisation Fund.

Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Mark Schubert adds that the mission of the partnership is to develop the most advanced recycling infrastructure in the region, “This is to ensure that traceable, certified locally collected and processed food grade and non-food grade rPET can be made available to Australian manufacturers.”

We are also exploring ways to recycle a broader range of plastics including HDPE and PP. CPA (PE) is a joint venture between Pact Group Holdings Ltd and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd. The upcoming CPA (PE) facility in Laverton, Melbourne launching in August 2023 will process around 20,000 tonnes of mixed plastics each year, the equivalent of half a billion plastic milk bottles and food tubs collected from household recycling bins.

The CPA (PE) facility is being supported by the Victorian Government through its Recycling Victoria Infrastructure Fund and the Australian Government through its Recycling Modernisation Fund.

Cleanaway will continue to contribute to infrastructure that provides high quality, clean feedstock material for new food and beverage containers in the years to come. This demonstrates how we’re broadening the scope of circularity for household plastics to provide better circular outcomes for the country.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible together for communities and businesses across Australia.

TOMRA Cleanaway appointed Victorian Deposit Scheme Network Operator

Partnerships - Resource Recovery

April 14, 2023

Highlights

“We are making a significant capital investment to deliver on our Victorian Network Operator obligations and when combined with our investments in bottle to pellet recycling facilities for PET, polypropylene and HDPE, creates a highly circular solution for resources collected through the scheme,” he said.

Tags: Container deposit scheme

Highlights

Cleanaway today announces that TOMRA Cleanaway has been appointed as the Network Operator for the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) for Zones 1 and 4.

These attractive zones cover Western Regional Victoria and Western Metropolitan Melbourne, equating to approximately one-third of the state of Victoria in geographic terms with a population of over 2 million. It is estimated that half a billion eligible drink containers will be collected through these zones annually.

Pictured from left to right: Tor Eirik Knutsen (CEO of TOMRA), Mark Schubert (CEO & MD of Cleanaway), James Dorney (CEO of TOMRA Cleanaway)

TOMRA Cleanaway is a 50/50 joint venture between Cleanaway and TOMRA that brings together Cleanaway’s logistics capability and TOMRA’s reverse vending machine technology to deliver a comprehensive CDS network. Cleanaway has extensive experience in various container deposit schemes across the country, with the TOMRA Cleanaway joint venture reappointed as the sole Network Operator for the highly successful NSW scheme last year.

As the Network Operator TOMRA Cleanaway will be responsible for the Victorian CDS network of return points, including Reverse Vending Machines, over-the-counter drop offs and automated depots. The joint venture will also be responsible for ensuring the resources collected through the scheme are sent to appropriate destinations for recycling.

The scheme is anticipated to commence on 1 November 2023 with an initial Network Operator contract duration of five years.

Cleanaway’s CEO and Managing Director, Mark Schubert said, “We are excited and proud to deliver a superior recycling solution to Victoria. Cleanaway’s Blueprint 2030 strategy is centred around delivering sustainable customer solutions. Today’s CDS announcement is a great example of strategy into action as we further extend our network of integrated infrastructure for customers.”

It is anticipated that a portion of the material collected through the Victorian CDS and sold on the open market will provide feedstock for Circular Plastic Australia facilities in Altona, Laverton and Albury-Wodonga.*

Cleanaway looks forward to participating in the Victorian CDS and help create better environmental and economic outcomes for all Victorians.

*The Circular Plastics Australia (PET) facility in Altona is a joint venture between Cleanaway, PACT Group, Asahi Beverages and Coca Cola Europacific Partners to reprocess 28,000 tonnes of PET into plastic pellets. These pellets can then be turned into recycled packaging that is equivalent to 1 billion PET bottles a year. The Altona facility will commence operation in the second half of this year and complements the Albury-Wodonga PET facility already operating and producing PET pellets ready to be turned back into packaging.

Cleanaway in partnership with PACT Group will also open in the second half of this year a new plastics pelletising facility at Laverton called Circular Plastics Australia (PE). This facility will become Australia’s largest post-consumer HDPE and polypropylene recycling facility converting locally collected CDS and kerbside materials into high quality food grade recycled HDPE and recycled polypropylene resin.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible together with communities and businesses across Australia.

TOMRA Cleanaway appointed Victorian Deposit Scheme Network Operator

Partnerships - Resource Recovery

Tags: Container deposit scheme

Highlights

The growing threat of embedded lithium-ion batteries

Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

March 30, 2023

Tags: industry updates

Highlights

While largely out of sight, embedded lithium-ion batteries are all around us. They power many of our everyday devices such as:

baby monitors and cameras
bluetooth devices (headphones, speakers, etc)
computer accessories (wireless keyboards, mice, etc)
digital cameras
electric bikes and scooters
smartwatches
tablets
toys
videogame controllers.

The list goes on and on. Many Australians aren’t even aware of the existence of batteries in the products they use every day, and unknowingly dispose of these items in bins.

Pictured: In March 2023 Cleanaway operators servicing a customer’s site found a fire in one of our hook lift bins. The fire is suspected to be caused by an embedded lithium-ion battery.

Why are embedded lithium-ion batteries so dangerous?

The short answer: it doesn’t take much for lithium to combust.

There have been reports of lithium-ion batteries catching fire by simply coming into contact with moisture which makes them especially dangerous when placed in kerbside recycling bins.

On top of that, lithium fires even more dangerous than fires caused by other kinds of waste. Lithium releases oxygen as it heats up so using water to put out such fires is not only difficult but can lead to explosions.

Data provided by state fire departments show that more than 450 incidents linked to lithium-ion batteries have been reported over the past 18 months.

This alarming statistic is expected to rise as more and more lithium-ion batteries in use today reach the end of their life cycle.

Pictured: Embedded lithium-ion batteries such as the one inside this charred device shown above regularly catch fire in waste collection vehicles and facilities. This complicates an already difficult challenge for Australian waste management workers.

What to do with devices that contain embedded lithium-ion batteries?

Batteries of all types are a direct threat to our ecosystem and should be kept away from household waste bins or recycling bins.

Lithium-ion batteries pose an even greater hazard because they can combust at any stage of the waste management chain. These have been reported to catch fire during collection, transportation, handling and processing.

End of life devices that contain embedded lithium-ion batteries should be discarded at e-waste drop off points. This includes permanent collection sites at local waste transfer stations and retail outlets such as Bunnings.

Product stewardship programs such as MobileMuster accepts a large variety of e-waste such as mobile phones, smartwatches and tracking tags.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

A standing ovation for litter free outdoor events

Communities - Resource Recovery

Tags: Communities

Highlights

Outdoor concerts and festivals bring with them the threat of littering and the environment shouldn’t suffer for the sake of our entertainment.

A recent ABC report likens a rubbish filled waterway to “the day after an outdoor concert,” associating concerts and music festivals with extensive litter.

This is hardly surprising. While 90% of Australians say they separate their waste at home, only 72% say they do so when on holiday according to the 2022 Recycling Behaviours Report.

The good news is that there are several measures event organisers can put into place to prevent a mess after any outdoor event.

Pictured: Cleanaway wheelie bins and skip bins at an outdoor event.

Australians want to do the right thing but sometimes it’s easier to just drop the waste if there’s no dedicated waste disposal site in sight.

According to our 2022 Recycling Behaviours Report, 64% of Australians say they sort their waste every time when at home.

However, this drops to just 36% when in public.

Providing waste and recycling bins with clear signage and instructions on what goes into the bins will encourage event goers to do the right thing and reduce litter.

Pictured: Resource Recovery Officer Evelyn doing a visual audit of a recycling bin to check for contamination at Tamworth Country Music Festival.

Clear bins frequently and keep grounds clean

The broken window theory states that if an environment looks clean and pristine, people are less likely to damage it.

However if it looks unkempt to begin with, then there’s a higher chance of people adding to the mess.

Frequently emptying bins can encourage their use and prevent errant dumping of waste.

The same goes for staff and volunteers: the more there are at the event, the better the chances of keeping the environment clean and tidy.

Encourage waste reduction and proper disposal

Concert and festival organisers can encourage the use and consumption of environmentally friendly solutions.

This goes beyond having enough bins at the venue.

Solutions can range from not selling food and snacks in single use packaging, providing compostable cutlery and even setting up water stations to refill drinking containers.

Some music festivals in Europe have even declared a ban on plastic bottles. Similar campaigns have been kicked off in Australia such as the BYOBottle campaign by Green Music Australia.

This initiative has been amplified by the Sustainable Concerts Working Group (SCWG) with a spinoff BYOBottle campaign involving artistes such as Jack Johnson, P!nk and Bonnie Raitt.

Today over 120 Australian artists are now BYOBottle Ambassadors.

Collectively the entertainment and events industry can do a lot to encourage event goers to protect the environment and keep outdoor areas in perfect form for the next big gig.

Contact us today to learn more about how your outdoor event can make a sustainable future possible together for the community and the environment.

The waste industry’s fight for fire safety

Communities - Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

February 9, 2023

Highlights

“When we think about the journey our rubbish goes on, from kitchen bin to the street for collection and then to waste facilities, if there’s a battery in the mix, the risk of a fire starting along the way soars.”

Tags: Recycling

Highlights

The waste industry is seeing a sharp increase in waste fires on garbage trucks and in waste facilities. In Australia more than 450 fires have been linked to lithium-ion batteries over the past 18 months, according to data provided by state fire departments. WA alone recorded 81 lithium-ion related fires in the last year compared to 21 in 2018, NSW recorded 180, 120 in VIC and 72 in QLD.

Many of these incidents are a direct result of waste contaminated with lithium batteries and other household batteries, which are a no go for kerbside bins.

Late on Boxing Day 2022 the Canberra suburb of Hume was rocked with news of a blaze at the local Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

ACT Fire and Rescue chief, Matthew Mavity, said in an interview with The Guardian that an incorrectly recycled battery or vape had not been ruled out.

“Any battery … has potential chemical energy stored and that can be released if it’s damaged,” he said.

Pictured: Facebook post by the ACT Emergency Services Agency detailing the Boxing Day blaze at Hume MRF. The fire has detailed residential recycling in the ACT.

ACT transport minister Chris Steel added that the incident should serve as a wake up call for people to make sure they only placed non-hazardous recyclables in their bins.

“Unfortunately, we do see too many dangerous objects put into the recycling stream that simply shouldn’t be there,” he said.

“Things like vapes, batteries and even gas cylinders that can cause a hazard and a risk of fire.”

The destruction of the Hume MRF is a massive blow to waste management in the ACT.

Thousands of tonnes of waste that could’ve previously been recycled locally is now being transported interstate for processing.

A nationwide concern

The Hume MRF fire is far from isolated. At around the same time, two fires broke out at a facility for yellow lidded waste in Kwinana, WA.

Just like the Hume incident, the Kwinana fires are believed to be caused by lithium batteries thrown into kerbside bins.

Pictured: Facebook post by City of Kwinana reporting on the fires that broke out at the local MRF in December 2022.

Pictured: Facebook post by Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA showing firefighters battling a fire on a garbage truck in November 2022.

Since 1 January 2022, Fire and Rescue NSW crews have responded to 180 li-ion battery fires compared to just over 16 in 2021.

Up north in Queensland, discarded batteries are believed to have caused eight Brisbane City Council garbage truck fires since July 2021.

All eight incidents forced the truck drivers to dump their hot loads on suburban streets.

In an interview with the Brisbane Times, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said that household batteries that were discarded in council bins were suspected of causing the fires.

Not even landfills are safe from battery fires.

The Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) in its Inclusion of all batteries in the Victorian landfill ban submission to the Victorian EPA mentioned reports of at least two fires in a Victorian landfill believed to have been caused by li-ion batteries.

ABRI further explained in its submission that the incidence of battery fires in landfills continue to grow and that these incidents create hazardous fumes which are a danger to both firefighters and landfill operators.

A cause for change

According to the Hazardous waste infrastructure needs and capacity assessment report by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) the surge of li-ion entering the waste stream in the years to come is of particular concern.

The report estimates that waste li-ion batteries will grow by upwards of 300% each year by 2036. The result is the generation of between 100,000 to 187,000 tonnes of waste per year.

To put this into perspective, the Sydney Opera House weighs roughly 165,000 tonnes.

Source: Randell Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd & Blue Environment for the Hazardous Waste Section Department of the Environment July 2016.

Statistics by ABRI published in Waste battery disposal and recycling behavior: a study on the Australian perspective show that Australia’s battery recycling rate is still lagging behind many countries.

Pictured: Battery recycling rate in OECD countries including Australia (ABRI 2017).

The waste industry’s fight for fire safety requires concerted action to tackle Australia’s rapidly growing li-ion waste stream. This can be addressed by further developing the current battery recycling ecosystem to keep household batteries away from kerbside bins.

A nationwide effort such as this demands cooperation from the public, waste service providers and industry to support stewardship programs such as B-cycle, Australia’s official recycling scheme.

B-cycle was launched in January 2022. In its first six months of operation the scheme has collected over 900,000kg of batteries for recycling from more than 3,200 drop off points across all eight states and territories.

Safe and sustainable alternatives are also being developed by Australian companies as a long term solution to the li-ion waste problem.

Brisbane-based Redflow and Sydney-based Gelion have developed batteries with world leading zinc bromine flow technology.

Zinc-bromide batteries offer a safer and more reliable alternative to li-ion batteries. These next gen batteries also provide performance advantages over li-ion batteries by maintaining 100% state of health even after thousands of cycles.

Apart from new and emerging technologies, battery recycling education remains the waste industry’s best safeguard against waste fires.

Cleanaway provides free resources for Australians to learn how to properly discard of their batteries and other potentially hazardous household waste.

This includes information on free battery and e-waste recycling programs for residents to bring in their end of life household batteries as well as tips on handling and managing different battery types.

Pictured: Cleanaway battery recycling education poster.

We also partner with organisations such as Clean Up Australia to support hazardous waste disposal in communities across Australia and organise hazardous waste collection events with councils across the country.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Explosive waste!

Communities - Learning - Resource Recovery

January 19, 2023

Tags: Recycling

Highlights

Batteries of all types can be found in nearly everything we use today: from button batteries in our car keys to lithium batteries in our smartwatches.

Our busy lives are powered by these little things, and in turn we should never be too busy to discard them properly at the end of their life cycle.

Why is it important to keep used batteries out of kerbside recycling bins?

No battery lasts forever. It’s in the nature of single use batteries to run flat and the same goes for rechargeable batteries which eventually lose their capacity to hold a charge.

This brings us to the most important point: ALL batteries need to be disposed of properly (and safely).

If you’re still guessing where, here’s a hint – it’s not in your wheelie bin!

Pictured: Batteries disposed in kerbside bins can start fires in the back of garbage trucks and threaten the safety of the community at large.

Most batteries contain toxic heavy metals such as nickel, cadmium and mercury that are harmful to human, animal and plant life if released into waterways and ecosystems via landfill.

Additionally, lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries have been named as the culprit behind a rising number of household fires across Australia.

Li-ion batteries are highly sensitive to temperature changes and when discarded in household recycling bins they are likely to catch fire.

Fires can also break out in the back of garbage collection vehicles and at transfer stations where batteries frequently come into contact with flammable waste.

Pictured: Li-ion batteries discarded in a kerbside bin ignited at a Cleanaway transfer station.

What should you do with your used batteries?

Before dropping off your used batteries for recycling, tape the terminals first. To do this all you need is some non-conductive tape such as clear sticky tape, duct tape or electrical tape.

The next step would be to keep them in a glass jar, away from metal objects or heat sources such as stoves, radiators and even the sun!

Also, never store your batteries in a metal container as this can lead to sparks.

Pictured: The fire damage seen in the pictures above was caused by a vape pen battery that was thrown in a kerbside recycling bin.

Where can you dispose of your used batteries?

Aim to drop off your used batteries for recycling every six months. Retail outlets and supermarkets accept all kinds of batteries and e-waste for recycling:

Aldi: household batteries i.e. AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries (both rechargeable and non-rechargeable are accepted)
Battery World: check with your local store to see which kinds of batteries are accepted
Bunnings: household batteries i.e. AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries, batteries from power tools
Officeworks: household batteries i.e. AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries, laptop/mobile phone batteries
Woolworths: household batteries i.e. AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries.

Pictured: Battery recycling drop-off points at Bunnings (left) and Woolworths (right).

You can also search for a drop off point nearest to you using B-cycle’s list of drop off points.

B-cycle is Australia’s official battery stewardship scheme and is government backed to recycle used batteries, ensuring that the precious materials used to make them are reused.

The scheme has collected more than 918,000 kilograms of used batteries through 3,200 drop-off points across all states and territories in just six months.

Many councils offer free old battery disposal and e-waste recycling programs for residents to bring in their unwanted household batteries.

You can ring your local council and ask if battery disposal and recycling services are available to you.

Pictured: A Cleanaway driver servicing City of Casey had to drop the hot load in his new truck for the County Fire Authority to put out.

Pictured: This laptop with its battery still intact started a fire inside a baler at a Cleanaway sorting facility.

What happens to used batteries that are dropped off for recycling?

Batteries contain up to 95% recyclable materials. Through recycling, any steel, copper and aluminium present in them are reintroduced to the manufacturing sector for use in new products.

The active components of li-ion batteries such as graphite, cobalt, nickel and aluminium are turned into mixed metal dust which forms the building blocks of new li-ion batteries.

Battery manufacturers are seeing the value in battery recycling and are ramping up their roles within the ecosystem in Australia. According to McKinsey Battery Insights manufacturers will benefit greatly from a closed loop for batteries.

End of life li-ion batteries is a waste stream that is growing by 20% each year. As the battery recycling market matures, manufacturers will be able to lower their production costs by reusing raw materials present in used batteries while lowering their dependence on virgin raw material – a win-win situation for both industry and the environment.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Go further with FOGO

Learning - Resource Recovery

Highlights

Composting at home can also reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers, expensive soil conditioners and other chemical products.

Tags: FOGO

Highlights

Composting at home can also reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers, expensive soil conditioners and other chemical products.

FOGO, known as Food Organics and Green Organics, can make up to 70% of your kerbside general waste bin. This completely avoidable waste costs Australian households about $2,000 to $2,500 a year. It is often the heaviest and most recyclable waste in your general waste bin. But what exactly is FOGO?

FOGO consists of organic material which can usually be recycled into beneficial soil conditioners, such as your compost, organic fertilisers and mulch. This is usually divided into food waste (FO) and garden waste (GO).

The National Waste Report 2022 points out approximately 4.69 Mt (megatonnes) of food waste alone was generated by households and businesses. If food ends up in landfill, that’s a waste of the time and effort to grow it. In landfill it will also attract pests while generating odour, leachate and gases like methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This makes diverting FOGO from landfill a priority in the effort to fight climate change.

In some locations, the processing facility has the capability to accept all kinds of organic material, including cooked food, animal hair and food gone bad. However, most Australians have access to just a GO service (48% of the population), as not all organic processing facilities can manage food waste appropriately.

One of the challenges of processing FOGO bins is managing higher odour risks from food waste, which may affect nearby communities. Another is the lack of awareness of FOGO services and restrictions which may lead to contamination. Well-designed FOGO services which include the provision of kitchen caddies and certified compostable liners, can minimise bin contamination and collect up to 75% of food waste generated in a locale.

So what can you do? If you do not have a FOGO kerbside bin, consider recycling your FOGO yourself. There are now many online guides and resources to help you get the most out of your FOGO, including worm farm and compost guides for homes of every size. If you are a home gardener, one of the unspoken benefits of creating your own compost is the ability to monitor exactly what goes into the soil of your plants.

Composting at home can also reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers, expensive soil conditioners and other chemical products. You can also check with your local council or neighbourhood groups to start or join a communal compost. Plan your groceries and make a list to reduce food waste.

For many businesses, recycling FOGO has its own set of challenges due to strict product requirements and product wastage. Most of these can be recycled and diverted from landfill with new technologies, dedicated bins and better waste education.

Get ready for the FOGO revolution or contact us to learn more about using FOGO to make a sustainable future possible together for your business and organisation.