Emergency lighting battery recycling program relaunched

Lighting Council Australia will relaunch Exitcycle, an industry-led battery recycling initiative.

The product stewardship arrangement was first trialled in 2015 and aimed to improve the recycling rates of emergency and exit lights. The program is supported by the Queensland Government, which recently confirmed an extension to the original program.

“With some 30 million emergency and exit lights across the country, it is critical that industry works with government and the community to improve environmental outcomes,” said Lighting Council Australia National Marketing and Environment Manager Roman Gowor.

“The majority of the green emergency lights we see across all buildings are powered by a combination of older battery technologies, which often use cadmium, nickel metal hydride or sealed lead acid. In the coming years, newer generation batteries will use more sustainable components; however, multiple sectors — government, industry and end users — must work together to find the best way of increasing recycling rates.

“The Exitcycle approach is successful because it is very well suited at addressing the specific waste issue,” said Gowor.

“Unlike a great proportion of batteries used across the economy, emergency and exit lights are not typically used in households and, by law, can only be serviced by electrical contractors. The Exitcycle program is more targeted than other programs and focuses on electricians and facility and building managers.”

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/anssi ruuska