Battery recycling
New life for those old batteries
Have you ever considered what happens to your old car, motorcycle or marine battery? Club Assist is committed to protecting the environment by making sure your old batteries don't become a toxic time-bomb. We recycle over 7500 tonnes of batteries each year.
Old car batteries can pop up everywhere, from garden sheds to back paddocks, creek beds and landfill. Forgotten or just carelessly discarded, they are a hazardous headache for the environment. However, if recycled your old car or marine battery can be put to good use.
The components of a lead-acid battery are relatively simple – they're essentially made up of lead, electrolyte (containing sulphuric acid), and polypropylene (the plastic casing). If left lying for years in the garden shed or inappropriately dumped in landfill, it’s only a matter of time before they begin to corrode and leak their highly toxic fluid. This is not only hazardous to people and the environment but a waste of materials that could be easily recycled.
Recycled batteries
Typical lead-acid batteries, including more recent variants such as AGM and EFB batteries are highly recyclable. Every time Club Assist receives a returned car, motorcycle or marine battery, it's sent off to a specialist used lead acid battery recycler.
It’s all part of our 1 for 1 Battery Recycling Program – automotive Club members leave the discarded battery with us so they don't have to worry about the headache of disposing of the battery. We then send the used batteries on to a recycling facility so they can be converted into valuable end product sold to Australia and overseas industry.
In a typical recycling operation, the lead is melted down into ingots and reused in the manufacture of new car batteries. The sulphuric acid is neutralised or converted into far less volatile sodium sulphate, a common ingredient in many detergents and even liquid fertilisers. The polypropylene casings are melted down and recycled, often finding their way into new battery casings or other manufactured items.
Every year, thousands of old car batteries are collected and recycled through the 1 for 1 program. That’s good news for your garden shed, and it's good news for the environment.
Do the right thing
So next time you need your battery replaced, give a second thought to your outgoing battery, and make sure it's disposed of responsibly by leaving it with our automotive Club specialist who will send it to us and we'll recycle it for free.