Hi Peter,

What fabulous data. Can I please have the source/s or, if it's yours, can I please use the data in my upcoming speech to the Australian Minerals Council?

It's not just the Third World where batteries are dumped in a hole in the ground or left lying around for animals and children to gain access. Unofficial figures from our federal environment agency estimate perhaps 1500 tonnes of lead acid batteries have been shipped to Asia in contravention of the Basel Convention, because a couple of shipments were intercepted when destined for China in the last 6 mths, but that some 95,000 tonnes of lead acid batteries arises per yr by their estimate and the two plants that recycle the majority of our batteries (Australian Refined Alloys in Melbourne and in Sydney) only process 60,000 tonnes per annum between them (though they each have a capacity to process 35,000 tonnes per annum). When I rang Exide Technologies (in Melbourne), the only company licensed by the federal government to ship batteries for recycling overseas (they are shipped to Exide's secondary smelter in Wellington, New Zealand) to ask for the annual tonnage shipped, and they phoned back to say their licence allows up to 12,000 tonnes annually and this year they'll come very close to the mark. By my reckoning this leaves some 20,000 tonnes per annum either still in vehicles or dumped or buried.

I personally regularly see lead acid batteries dumped on the street in suburban Sydney despite the fact that theoretically whenever you buy a replacement battery, the dealer is supposed to accept your old battery for recycling. When I was speaking to the lab-workers at the Western Australia sugar mill I asked why they didn't dispose of the leaded lab waste by adding them to the load with their lead acid batteries whenever they are picked up, I was told that lead acid batteries are not picked up in such remote areas due to the complete lack of licensed hazardous waste transporters and the batteries are simply dumped at the local tip. A New South Wales scrap metal recycler commented to me in May last year that "battery recycling companies are folding and people are putting batteries in their rubbish bins and skips". In March of 2004 he had said:

"I have worked on a collection regime for lead acid batteries which could be extended to tyres because they occur together so can be picked up as a combination of bulky tyres and dense batteries.

"Lead in landfill has to be managed for ever by Councils due to risk of land slip or earth movement which can break up the clay or rip other lining. Canberra has only one tip left now.
"There's lead in automotive shredder flock because the batteries and wheel weights go thru a shredder as mixed non-ferrous feed which is recycled by being spread on the ground in Asia. "MetalCorp in Chipping Norton and Newcastle and a couple of others around Sydney pay $170 /tonne for car waste but people put lead batteries in the boot of the car to be shredded because you can only get $110 /tonne for batteries on their own.
"Roads are very rough so batteries can fall off vehicles if not in a container. NSW EPA is very proud of their tyre burying policy but you can mine coal for less than the cost of digging up the EPA's monofill shredded tyre landfill. I've developed a system for one collection of all the auto and other waste and the companies love it. I would give them an 8'X8'X8' cage for any size tyre which would be unloaded mechanically and the tyres would be burnt with 85% coal which lowers NOX emissions at the coal burning facility to enable them to comply with their licence conditions. You could put batteries into tubs at the same time eg for Nerandera or Moree where we could also pick up TVs from Harvey Norman etc and junk from the tip. You could take out brand new tyres and batteries on the return trip. It would be auditable by the government. Recycled oil costs are covered by a bounty on new oil so recycled battery costs should be covered by a bounty on new batteries.

"The appliance industry has been put on notice to come up with some solutions so they should work with the tyre and battery industry to share a waste collection path. You have to have a licence to deal with batteries with lead in them but you also have to have a licence to deal with TVs and monitors with lead in them.

"Industrial rents are high and you need lots of space for the large thru-puts because you don't get much per tonne so it's cheaper to bury it because the users aren't asked to pay ongoing fees for landfill maintenance.

"There should be a $200 tariff on new cars to properly dispose of every old car to enable ensuring that the tyres, batteries and oils don't get into the shredder flocks. The rubber could be burned in a cement kiln to offset coal production and would attract a credit from the Greenhouse Office. Its more cost effective / energy efficient to burn tyres than to shred them.
"Century Batteries want to implement my national pick-up scheme for batteries and it requires an education campaign as well which may be able to involve The LEAD Group.
"The Oberon submarines had 4 semitrailers full of lead batteries.

"Extended Producer Responsibility is all well and good for ensuring redesigning of products so they are less toxic and more recyclable but lets make consumers pay for recycling instead of the producers so we have the money to deal with the waste that's already out there."
Well, those are some thoughts on the matter. I'd be very interested to hear from other members of LeadWorkers with info on where they know the batteries go.

Yours Sincerely

Elizabeth O'Brien

 

 

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