Used Batteries to Become Eco-Friendly Fertiliser

Article by: Hari Yellina (Orchard Tech)

Used batteries could soon be used as powerful fertilisers, simultaneously tackling one of the country’s biggest polluters and improving recycling rates in Australia. The new Australian-first technology is pioneered by eco-company ReNutrients, with the new product expected to roll out in the next two years. Managing Director Brett Smuts said the initiative, had the potential to dramatically reduce battery pollution in Australia and benefit farmers and the environment in the process. Hari Yellina, of Orchard Tech, is of the opinion that a single battery in a landfill can pollute 167,000 litres of drinking water by leaching chemicals into soil and waterways.

Therefore, this will be solving two problems with one solution, taking waste out of the landfill that poisons the waterways, and putting back into agriculture and the environment through micronutrient fertiliser. Moreover, Australians recycle less than 10 per cent of their batteries with 419 million handheld batteries ending up in landfills each year. With a huge proportion of landfills unlined, batteries leach chemicals like mercury, cadmium, lithium, and lead into the environment which often sparks chemical fires that can burn for days. Additionally, a lot of these landfills are not lined, and these toxins flow out so this process will take the waste out of the system.

The technology works by neutralising chemicals within recycled batteries as well as extracting the zinc, manganese and minerals crucial which make powerful fertiliser for farming. Waste batteries, especially those in small handheld devices, are one of the world’s fastest-growing waste streams. Chemicals in used batteries can start fires when mixed with household rubbish, and should be dropped off at local battery disposal points. To date, there have been only limited options for battery recycling in Australia. Therefore, experts are now figuring out ways to recycle batteries.