Australia has launched a new national program to fight what the government calls one of the fastest-growing sources of trash: batteries.
About 350 million batteries are sold each year in Australia.
That’s according to a government report, which also says about 90% of those batteries wind up in landfills.
The federal government wants to shift that waste stream — with a new national battery recycling program.
A key part is increasing the number of locations that will accept batteries for recycling — from retail stores of all sizes to community centers and service organizations.
Funding for the program comes from the federal government and the battery industry.
It’s that infrastructure for recycling that has lagged behind the development and increased use of batteries themselves — and not just in Australia.
The nonprofit organization Inside Climate News reports that a plant will be opening in Georgia later this year that will be able to recycle 30,000 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries every year.
It will be the largest battery recycling plant in North America.
An even bigger one is in the works near Rochester, New York, slated to open next year.
Back in Australia, the director of a group called the Battery Stewardship Council says the idea is to make it easy for people to recycle batteries and make the practice into a consumer habit.
