If you live in Victoria, households and businesses must recycle batteries after the state government banned all e-waste from landfill this year.
The Victorian government introduced the ban in July 2019, meaning used batteries can no longer be thrown into your general waste or recycling bin at home.
Battery waste is a major problem in Victoria and the rest of the country, where the vast majority of used batteries end up in landfill.
According to Sustainability Victoria, less than three per cent of all batteries purchased in Australia are recycled, representing more than 14,000 tonnes of batteries that are bound for landfill every year.
You can recycle batteries of all sizes and the best part is that it’s easy to dispose of used batteries in a way that helps protect the environment.
Here’s a guide to where you can recycle different types of batteries in Victoria:
Recycle everyday batteries
Households can recycle most batteries under 5kg at permanent drop-off sites run by your local council.
This includes AA, AAA, C, D, 9V and other batteries types, no matter if they are single-use or rechargeable varieties.
You can also drop your certain used batteries off for free at various retail stores, both metropolitan and rural.
You can find your closest drop-off point by visiting RecyclingNearYou.com.au, where you can search to find your nearest collection spot by postcode.
Recycle mobile phone, motor vehicle batteries
While you can take smart phone batteries to regular collection points, Mobile Muster makes recycling mobile phones and their batteries even easier.
You can pick up a free MobileMuster satchel from AusPost or print off a mailing label at home and send your mobile phone, battery and accessories for free.
When it comes to motor vehicle batteries, households can recycle spent lead acid batteries by taking them to participating garages, scrap metal dealers and transfer stations.
The benefits of battery recycling
There are numerous benefits to recycling batteries, but the most important one is that it prevents toxic substances like lead, cadmium and mercury from contaminating the environment.
Recycling batteries reduces the risk of explosions and fires caused by mishandling and incorrectly storing lithium metal batteries.
It also recovers finite natural resources in old batteries to reuse in new products, minimising our dependence on new mining and processing.
Battery recycling for businesses
Businesses and organisations can lead the way on battery recycling by establishing workplace battery recycling programs.
If your organisation produces large quantities of battery waste, then Ecocycle can provide battery recycling buckets ranging from 2 litres to 20 litres and collect them once they’re full.
Ecocycle recycles all types of batteries and processes them at purpose-built facilities located in every state across Australia.
For more information, give us a call on 1300 32 62 92 or fill out the form, and one of our battery recycling experts will develop a solution just for you.
Source: REcycling - ecocycle.com.au
