Call to recycle used car batteries
With just days to go until World Environment Day on Sunday, June 5, Sunshine Coast residents are encouraged to dig up all their old lead acid batteries that may be sitting in garages or sheds for the Century Yuasa Batteries ‘Round-Up’.
Century Yuasa have been producing batteries for almost any vehicle for over 80 years and are also the only Australian battery manufacturer with a dedicated network of Battery Recycling Centres. As a major sponsor of the Sunshine Coast Environment Festival’s transport area, Century is bringing a Battery Recycling Centre to the University of the Sunshine Coast venue.
Product Recycling Manager for Century, Nathan Pickering explains that a used car battery is about 98% recyclable and of the 4.5 million vehicle batteries sold in Australia each year, about 80% are recycled.
“The remainder end up sitting in garages and other places and potentially could cause damage or have a detrimental effect on wildlife, pets and the environment. At an average of 15kg per battery this equals around 15,000 tonnes that, with the correct disposal can be recycled each year. These are the used batteries we’re targeting to collect,” said Nathan.
Once collected from the Festival the used batteries will be sent to a recycling facility where the plastic cases are re-moulded into wheelie bins, planter pots, guide posts and new battery cases. The sulphuric acid is cleaned and re-engineered into sodium sulphate for use in glass, textile and detergent manufacture and the lead oxide and lead plates are re-smelted into lead ingots which Century buys back to make new batteries.
This whole process helps employ about 1,000 people in collection, transport, processing, distribution, manufacturing and support staff here in Australia.
“When a new Century Battery is made from recycled rather than raw materials it helps reduce the complex mining and processing process, lowers green house gas emissions and substantially reduces the burden on the environment,” said Nathan.
With attendance figures for the Festival expected to be in excess of 5,000 and its focus on effective and sustainable change, it provides the perfect opportunity for Century to round-up as many batteries as possible.
“Each year we make it our mission to seek out the latest and greatest in innovative sustainable businesses, products and initiatives and the round-up of batteries by Century is just one example of a simple and effective contribution you can make to reduce your environmental footprint,” said Wiebe ter Bals, Executive Officer of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council which organises the annual festival.
Once you have dropped off your battery, make sure that you visit some of the 70 exhibitors who have put together interactive and informative displays for the day. There is a speaker’s forum where a panel of experts will engage in a Q&A style discussion on ‘Green Economy’. Or participate in a hands-on workshop, enjoy the entertainment and fun activities in the children’s area, peruse the fleet of energy efficient cars and be inspired by a selection of bush foods, slow foods and solar cooking. The day’s program also includes two fashion swaps where you can recycle your wardrobe for free by swapping garments with other festival-goers. For full details about the day please visit www.scec.org.au/wed.html .
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