How a workplace battery recycling program can save your business money
Less than 10% of batteries sold in Australia each year are recycled, with the rest ending up in landfill. That’s crazy, and not just from an environmental point of view. It overlooks the financial benefits that businesses can gain from recycling batteries. Some benefits are obvious, while others are less so. 1. Reduced landfill costs […]
How Australian hotels are running their own battery recycling schemes
What do Accor, Hilton, Crown, Mercure and Langham have in common? Sure, they’re all high profile hotel chains, but what most people don’t know is that they also run their own battery recycling schemes. That’s great because hotels go through more batteries than you might imagine. Every room has a TV remote control, bedside clock […]
Ecocycle joins Exitcycle and Lighting Council Australia in panel discussion
Ecocycle Business Development Manager, Mr Daryl Moyle, recently presented to the battery recycling industry at a Lighting Council of Australia (LCA) hosted panel discussion. The focus of the discussion was on how to lift the rate of battery recycling under the LCA’s industry-led battery recycling program Exitcycle. The initiative aims to increase the recycling rate […]
Australia could lead the way with lithium-ion battery recycling, says CSIRO report
A recent report from CSIRO, Lithium battery recycling in Australia, found that a local lithium-ion battery recycling industry is both economically and environmentally achievable. The report indicates that Australia could be the world leader for the re-use and recycling of lithium-ion batteries. However, the creation of an onshore recycling industry will rely on a number […]
What happens to your smartphone battery when it is sent for recycling?
Lithium batteries mainly comprise iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and aluminium. Despite their name, lithium only makes up 2-3% of the weight of the battery, in part because it is such a light metal. The content of metals in phone batteries is up to 100 times higher than it is in the ores extracted by mining. […]
Can I recycle smoke alarms?
Smoke alarms (or smoke detectors) are much like the millions of items of normal electrical and electronic waste that we generate each year. They are mostly made up of plastic, a bit of wiring, a few electronic components and a battery. The batteries at least are easily recycled, and should be removed from smoke alarms […]
Global automotive battery market to reach US$95 billion by 2025
A market research report from Million Insights predicts that in 2025 the global automotive battery market will be worth US$95.57 billion (AUD$129 billion). That will reflect a compound annual growth rate of 7.9 per cent, making the market in 2025 about 70 per cent bigger than it is today. The report considers all types of […]
Salt the key ingredient for cheaper, more efficient rechargeable batteries
Since lithium-ion batteries appeared on the market in 1991 they’ve revolutionised mobile computing, telecommunications and, increasingly, the delivery of electricity at grid scale. However, we still have a long way to go to create the perfect battery that, among other things, would be cheap, efficient, quick to charge and discharge, capable of storing a lot […]
How do I recycle old batteries?
Batteries are a growing waste problem. While many millions of batteries are sold in Australia each year, less than 5% get recycled. That’s quite disturbing. Some batteries contain toxic materials such as mercury and cadmium. Small (button) batteries are a choking hazard. Lithium batteries can cause fires, and on top of that batteries contain a […]
Will Australian lithium miners close the loop on lithium battery recycling?
Could Kwinana in Western Australia be to lithium what Silicon Valley is to information technology? With Australia being the world’s largest producer of lithium, a serious study has been made into developing a ‘Lithium Valley’ in WA. The study makes the case for using Australia’s bounty of lithium to build a local industry that is […]
Tesla’s lithium-ion battery in South Australia paves way for battery-led energy future
In December 2017 Victoria’s Loy Yang power station ‘tripped’ and went off-line. Within a fraction of a second the world’s largest lithium-ion battery, based in South Australia, stepped in to deliver 100 megawatts (MW) of power to the national electricity grid, averting the risk of power cuts and providing valuable time for slower generators to […]
Ecocycle charges ahead with battery recycling
Victoria will ban all electronic waste (including batteries) from landfill from July 2019. Other states are also moving in the same direction. Rising to the challenge of providing safe, environmentally sound alternatives to landfill, long-time battery recycling company Ecocycle has quietly been getting on with the job of expanding Australia’s capacity to recycle all types […]
Increase in waste and recycling facility fires linked to batteries
The hazards of disposing of batteries, particularly lithium batteries, in general waste have been highlighted by an increase in the number of fires in waste and recycling facilities in North America. In a breakdown in the causes of these fires in California, 65 per cent were due to batteries of some type, with 40 per […]
What can cinemas recycle?
Think of ‘cinemas’ and ‘recycling’ and the obvious things that come to mind are popcorn buckets and soft drink bottles. Coffee cups and choc-top wrappers also make up a large proportion of the waste generated by cinemas. But beyond these day-in-day-out waste streams there are other, more durable items that cinema managers should be recycling […]
What can retailers recycle?
Think of ‘cinemas’ and ‘recycling’ and the obvious things that come to mind are popcorn buckets and soft drink bottles. Coffee cups and choc-top wrappers also make up a large proportion of the waste generated by cinemas. But beyond these day-in-day-out waste streams there are other, more durable items that cinema managers should be recycling […]
Lithium-ion batteries shifting from first to second use in closed-loop solution, report finds
It’s early days yet in the move from an oil-fuelled economy to one that runs on batteries, but analysts are looking into their crystal balls in their attempts to anticipate what the future lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries will be. One such analysis by Creation Inn, a London-based energy storage and circular economy business development consultancy, […]
How does Ecocycle collect, transport, store and recycle batteries?
A key to successful recycling is to make it as easy as possible for everyone to get involved. Ecocycle kept this ideal in mind when developing its battery recycling program. First up, we take the guesswork out of battery recycling. Is it a battery? If the answer is yes, we can accept it for recycling. […]
What can national and public parks recycle?
Whether it’s a huge national park or a small local reserve, parks and gardens improve our wellbeing and play an important role in creating a healthy environment. While municipal parks may provide rubbish and recycling bins for use by the public, to stay neat and tidy more remote parks will often rely on visitors to […]