Calls are growing for Australia’s rapidly growing battery recycling industry to have “nationally aligned” regulation.
Industry leaders convened at Parliament House in Canberra this week to advocate for mandatory product stewardship for battery materials, such as lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel found in renewable batteries.
Stewardship is not only seen as important for environmental reasons, but also for the battery recycling industry’s economic potential.
“Used batteries are not just a disposal challenge – they are a strategic domestic resource stream that can help Australia build sovereign capability in critical minerals recovery, metals processing and circular manufacturing,” Battery Stewardship Council chief executive officer Libby Chaplin said.
“We have the mineral endowment, industrial capability, research expertise and national collection networks to recover more value onshore and strengthen our position in global battery supply chains.”
Chaplin explained the risks of not establishing a stewardship framework.
“It is imperative that environment ministers move decisively to agree on an urgent pathway to nationally aligned regulation, leveraging the substantial foundational work led by the NSW EPA,” she said. “Failure to achieve national consistency will result in fragmentation that threatens the viability and success of battery stewardship outcomes.”
In September 2024, the NSW EPA commenced a trial to accept products with embedded batteries at selected recycling locations. This includes products such as Bluetooth speakers and headphones, electric toothbrushes and vapes.
Chaplin said Australia was “well positioned” to become a battery stewardship leader.
“Effective stewardship creates a powerful opportunity to integrate our world-class raw-materials capability with emerging urban-mining pathways,” she said. “It’s the front end of a stronger circular battery economy, helping secure feedstock, improve safety, reduce waste, and create the conditions for more domestic processing, reuse, repurposing and materials recovery.”
Australia’s battery recycling industry currently contributes $2.1 billion to the economy, supporting 19,450 jobs and more than 45 facilities nationwide. The Association for the Battery Recycling Industry forecasts the sector to triple to $6.9 billion in value by 2050.
The Battery Stewardship Council currently oversees B-cycle, which has supported the recovery of 11,450 tonnes of batteries (including 477 million individual batteries and more than 92.6 million lithium-ion batteries) since its launch in 2022.
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