The federal government has been urged to implement new regulations on battery-operated products given the alarming number of waste truck and waste centre fires linked to lithium-ion batteries.
The NSW Environmental Protection Authority’s Nancy Chang called for the changes at the agency’s second roundtable discussion for the recycling, emergency services and retail industries.
“What we need around the country is a battery stewardship program where producers pay for a scheme for batteries to be returned, collected and treated,” said Chang, the EPA’s executive director of strategy and policy.
Executive Director of Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of NSW Brett Lemin said waste centre fires were putting staff and facilities at risk.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Australia’s Battery Stewardship Scheme is now voluntary and covers only button batteries and batteries that can be replaced by consumers, such as AA or AAA batteries.
In NSW last year, there was a 50 per cent increase in the number of incidents in waste management facilities attended by Fire and Rescue NSW, from 34 in 2022 to 51. Fires on waste trucks increased by 27 per cent in the same period, to 71.
The number of battery fires in NSW in 2023 more than doubled the figure of the previous year, with 256 incidents, mostly caused by small portable devices such as vapes.
NSW fire brigade extinguishing the remains of a fire caused by disposable batteries.
Chang said the federal government also should implement design standards for battery-powered items, ensuring the batteries can easily be removed and are clearly labelled.
Poorly designed products also should be banned, such as “children’s light-up shoes with embedded batteries that are impossible to remove and go into landfill,” she said.
She called for a crackdown on “unnecessary” disposable products, such as light-up lollipops or single-use vapes, and a stronger product stewardship scheme to fund battery recycling.
A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the federal government was developing options for increased collection and recycling of e-waste, including the different types of embedded batteries.
Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of NSW executive director Brett Lemin said there was on average three fires daily in Australia in waste trucks and waste management facilities, caused by the improper disposal of batteries.
“When you think of all the new electronic gadgets [arriving in] households over the Christmas period, which are inevitably going to start entering the waste stream shortly, the problem is just getting worse and worse,” he said. “Our facilities are burning.”
In the past year in the Waverley and Lake Macquarie council areas, trucks have dumped waste after loads ignited. A spokesperson for Local Government NSW, the peak councils body, said truck fires caused by aerosols or batteries were “unfortunately fairly common”.
When fires beak out, usually in the compactors of collection trucks, councils and contractors have to “dump the load on the road immediately, extinguish and then clean up,” the spokesperson said.
SH NEWS: Fires at waste centres have increased by 50 per cent across NSW, driven by discarded batteries which can smoulder and explode.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Australian Council of Recycling chief executive Suzanne Toumbourou said battery fires were a “profound problem”, not well understood by the public.
“There’s a lot of confusion in the community about what has a battery, which can be in anything from a digital thermometer to musical greeting cards, and a lot of confusion about where batteries go,” she said.
“We need a good strong nationally co-ordinated campaign to ensure that the message is consistent and clear and that sources of information about correct disposal are readily understood and available.”
Small household batteries can be taken to community recycling centres when spent. Officeworks, Woolworths, Aldi, IGA and Bunnings accept large and small batteries.
The government-backed B-cycle scheme accepts a range of batteries at more than 4000 drop-off points around the country.
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