ABRI

Welcome to the Association for the Battery Recycling Industry

ABRI Member Bulletin ~ 4 October 2022

  1. ABRI Festival of Ideas – 17 Nov, Melbourne – setting battery recycling industry priorities for the benefit of members
  2. Australian Government – Policies, projects and regulation impacting the battery value chain
  3. FBICRC seeking battery recycling partner to solve the challenge of mixed battery waste in regional communities
  4. ABRI request to Victorian Government agencies for briefing on coordination of battery recycling industry engagement
  5. Proposed battery regulatory project – streamlined, safe and sustainable battery regulation
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1. ABRI FESTIVAL OF IDEAS - 17 NOV, MELBOURNE - SETTING BATTERY RECYCLING INDUSTRY PRIORITIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF MEMBERS

Join the ABRI Executive Committee and fellow members with a passion for battery recycling at the ABRI Festival of Ideas in Melbourne on Thursday 17 November (2-5pm). An afternoon of strategic planning is followed by networking drinks. If you haven’t received your invite, please email.

The Institute of Frontier Materials at Deakin University is hosting the event at their Deakin Downtown canvas. IFM has offered interested ABRI members a tour of their BatTRI-Hub facility when it is opened later this year. Further details will be provided when available.

Festival of Ideas – Agenda

The Festival of Ideas is a great opportunity for:

  • Members to get together face-to-face to meet and discuss ABRI’s and the industry’s strategic direction and priorities
  • The Executive Committee and the CEO to hear from you about your priorities for ABRI and how ABRI can support your organisation

The roundtable format facilitates member networking, sharing of ideas and identifying priorities to support business and industry development. The discussion is used to inform ABRI’s advocacy priorities and work plan.

There is no online option for this year’s Festival of Ideas. A separate online member forum will be scheduled to provide an opportunity for members to contribute to ABRI’s strategy discussion.

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2. AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT – POLICIES, PROJECTS AND REGULATION IMPACTING THE BATTERY VALUE CHAIN

For battery recyclers and everyone in the battery value chain, government policy and rules are rapidly changing. The impacts on business are many – changing rules around transport and storage, increased regulator site visits to check on compliance and increased focus on battery product quality. This is happening at the same time as structural change is occurring in the industry. To support members, ABRI is prioritising government engagement to achieve coordinated outcomes which effectively deliver safety and sustainability as the battery recycling industry grows.

Below is a list of some of the projects ABRI is engaging with the Australian Government on behalf of members. The project which will most likely soon impact your business, particularly the chain of responsibility regarding risk management of transport of used batteries, is the proposed National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Industry Code of Practice – Waste & Recycling Industry. The Regulator advises the Code proposes to set out the chain of responsibility for transport activities for the waste sector (including used batteries) to understand and assess risks within your operations in order to establish safety management systems that ensure that the primary duty established in legislation is fulfilled. The Regulator also advises the Code will have a legal function. That is, in the event of some incident, the Code will provide investigators and courts with evidence of what is known about the risks and hazards within a particular sphere of operations, and hence, what parties in the chain of responsibility should have known about the need to implement controls, and some of the mechanisms available for that purpose. The list in the Code is not intended to be exhaustive, there may be controls that you already implement which are at least as effective as those in the Code.

Transport rules for used batteries

  • National Heavy Vehicle Regulator Waste & Recycling Industry Proposed Code of Practice – formal consultation is expected later in 2022.
  • United Nations policy development for dangerous goods transport occurs twice per and the next session commences end November – ABRI is developing a submissions with ABIA and FBICRC to provide feedback to proposed changes to lithium battery transportation

Battery Recycling Industry Development

  • Critical technologies of national interest list update. The ABRI submission calling on battery recycling to be included as a critical technology is available – ABRI_Submission to critical technologies definitions. Further information on this project is here.
  • Electric Vehicle Strategy consultation paper is now out for consultation and submissions are due 31 October. ABRI is working with ABIA (Australian Battery Industry Association) to develop a joint submission including recognising the role the battery recycling and the need to consider industry transition issues.

Safety and product quality for battery sales

  • Lithium-ion batteries ACCC priority project looking at risk mitigation strategies and potential changes to the regulatory framework to improve consumer safety outcomes. An issues paper is expected by end 2022 and final recommendations by July 2023. ABRI is likely to support an ABIA submission.

 

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3. FBICRC SEEKING BATTERY RECYCLING PARTNER TO SOLVE THE CHALLENGE OF MIXED BATTERY WASTE IN REGIONAL COMMUNITIES

The Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) is currently developing a green process for simply and cheaply converting mixed end of life batteries into non-hazardous materials that can recycled. The process is designed to eliminate the transport of hazardous end of life batteries by preliminary processing at dispersed locations before transport to large facilities for completion of recycling. The current work is focused on developing the process and we would like to advance it further by building and operating a demonstration plant. The FBICRC’s intent is to build a small, container sized, demonstration plant.

FBICRC is looking for a partner organisation in NSW who can provide a site to host a demonstration plant and provide a feed of mixed end of life batteries. We are applying for a Critical Minerals and High-tech Metals grant from the NSW Government to support this demonstration plant. If you are interested  in working with the FBICRC on this project please contact Richard Macoun, FBICRC Research Director, richard.macoun@fbicrc.com.au

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4. ABRI REQUEST TO VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR BRIEING ON COORDINATION OF BATTERY RECYCLING INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT

ABRI is working with four Victorian Government agencies to provide members with clarity on how battery recycling regulatory and fire prevention work is being coordinated. The agencies involved are Vic EPA, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Worksafe Victoria and Fire Rescue Victoria. An update is expected by November.

Letter to Victorian Government agencies requesting coordination of fire prevention work

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5. PROPOSED BATTERY REGULATORY PROJECT - STREAMLINED, SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE BATTERY REGULATION

ABRI is working with Penny Crossley, Associate Professor Energy Law, University of Sydney to seek funding to develop a new best practice regulatory framework for the end of life of batteries. This Proposed battery regulatory reform project  is looking at how used batteries can safely and sustainably become a feedstock for new products.

Further updates will be provided as the project progresses.

 

ABRI
Email   secretariat@batteryrecyling.org.au
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