Page 47 from: October 2012

47October 2012

B A T T E R Y R E C Y C L I N G

proven to be quite a paradox, according to Mr

Rock. He intimated that the bump in the road

is the cross-country transportation of items

labelled as hazardous goods, which is so finan-

cially demanding as to be deeply unattractive.

Stuck on the island
According to Mr Rock, the whole scenario is

both a nightmare of logistics and legislation.

‘It’s sad to say that, unless the government steps

in, the prospects for battery recycling in Aus-

tralia look very bad indeed,’ he stated. Unless

something changes fast, he added, the discard-

ed batteries might very well be stuck on the

great island forever, destined to ‘waste away in

landfill’.

Whereas New South Wales-based player Aus-

Zinc’s partner in South Korea previously

offered a solution to this problem, the objec-

tions of domestic battery recyclers thwarted

this movement before it could flourish, said Mr

Rock. ‘They argued that the partnership we had

managed to set up was re-routing the “much-

needed” batteries away from the Australian

market,’ he explained. But given that bulk

amounts of batteries ‘are just sitting there any-

way’ because the government has seen to it that

they ‘cannot be moved’, Mr Rock concludes that

the argument put forward by domestic recyclers

is pretty much invalidated.

The numbers are quite significant, he warned,

and are set to grow along with Australia’s bur-

geoning population. The nation’s 22.5 million

inhabitants discard an ‘incredible’ volume of

used household batteries every year – recorded

at roughly 8000 tonnes by the Australian

Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, the country

witnesses an annual consumption of hand-held

batteries that averages well over 345 million,

originating mainly from notebook computers,

mobile phones, power tools and cameras.

‘Unnecessary evil’
Still astonished by the fact that only 4% of these

batteries make it into the recycling process, Mr

Rock is currently working overtime to ‘compile

evidence’ to show government officials that the

high-alert status of spent batteries is an ‘unnec-

essary evil’. However, since he has been trying

to persuade officials for over a year now, he

knows the battle won’t be easily won. ‘If they

would only look to European countries like

Germany, they would see the potential we are

missing out on,’ said Mr Rock. ‘Yet these kinds

of practices also serve as great examples that

keep me going.’

DHL’s Regional/Global Restricted Commodity

Group Senior Director and keynote speaker

Stefan Sauerbier agreed that today’s industry is

hampered by such elaborate shipping require-

ments, stating that packaged consumer batter-

ies sent out for recycling have come to resemble

oddly-shaped aquariums amid their labyrinth

of special granulates. ‘They want to make the

voyage of batteries more safe, which is under-

standable,’ he said. ‘But if they continue to

demand such stringent measures, they will only

succeed in making it impossible and unprofit-

able for the industry – with serious consequenc-

es for everyone involved.’

Restoring the balance
Both Mr Rock and Mr Sauerbier proclaimed

that governments would do much better to

abandon their frantic quest for exhaustingly

secure shipping arrangements and to concen-

trate on restoring a responsible balance between

safety and business. Citing recent figures from

the Federal Aviation Association, the latter

pointed out that 2006 and 2007 saw a surge in

flight-specific incidents triggered by either bat-

teries or battery-powered devices. ‘However,

most of these incidents were caused by human

error, by either wrong transport of defective

batteries, incorrect declaration and preparation,

or hidden, undeclared batteries,’ he underlined.

Mr Wiaux highlighted the risks surrounding

EV batteries, which are thought to have caused

almost 25 000 fires in Germany in 2007 alone.

‘The recycling industry should attempt to set

in motion an emergency strategy protocol and

provide elaborate training on what to do exact-

ly,’ insisted Recharge’s Director General, hailing

this as a prerequisite to ‘fight the current lack

of information’.

‘On the fast track’
‘All kinds of chemicals are put in batteries to

upgrade their capacity these days,’ added Johan

van Peperzeel, founder and CEO of Dutch bat-

tery specialist Van Peperzeel. ‘This makes it dif-

ficult to identify them on encountering them

in the waste stream and, as you might say,

“unclear equals unsafe”.’ And putting innova-

tion ‘on the fast track’ isn’t necessarily a good

thing, he believes. ‘Everyone is so busy with the

thought of competition that I feel too little

attention is left to invest in safety and in ensur-

ing a 100% solid product, while this should be

a basic priority,’ he said in Amsterdam.

As extensive testing cannot be conducted in fast-

forward, Mr Van Peperzeel stated: ‘More time

needs to be spent in the manufacturers’ labora-

tories. In the end, it’s as simple as this: the risks

are great, so we must go to great efforts. We can-

not remain looking at this issue from the side-

lines any longer. Accidents may be prevented,

but not until we face our responsibility.’

Congress Chairman Bruno Scrosati presents Bill Rock with 4.5 kg
worth of chocolate for coming all the way from Australia.

DHL Restricted Commodity Group Senior Director Stefan Sauerbier.

Johan van Peperzeel, CEO of Dutch battery recycler Van Peperzeel.

Bill Rock:

‘Unless the government
steps in, the prospects
for battery recycling in
Australia look very bad.’

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