Bunnings is making battery recycling even easier for retail and trade customers with the roll out of a national battery recycling program.
Following a successful trial in selected Bunnings stores in Victoria, the program is being introduced across Bunnings’ 338 sites in Australia, delivering the largest network of power tool recycling locations in the country.
The battery collection units have been specially designed to accept power tool batteries, as well as standard household batteries, and will be located at the front entrance of each site.
Bunnings has partnered with Envirostream Australia to manage the collection and recycling process, with more than 240,000 kilograms of batteries expected to be recycled in the first year.
Bunnings director of merchandise, Jen Tucker said the program demonstrates Bunnings commitment to reducing the environmental impacts of its operations as well as making it easier for customers to responsibly dispose their used batteries.
“This is an exciting initiative for our team, suppliers and customers. We sell a wide range of batteries, from household to power tool batteries and this initiative delivers a ‘full circle’ battery recycling program that will keep harmful materials out of the environment and recover valuable resources that can be infinitely recycled,” she said.
As a member of the Battery Stewardship Council, Bunnings is taking part in the federal government’s Accredited Battery Stewardship Scheme to help achieve targets to triple the battery collection rate over a period of five years.
Battery Stewardship Council CEO, Libby Chaplin said, “This is a fantastic example of the type of collection initiative that will form the basis of the BSC’s B-cycle Stewardship Scheme to launch in January 2022. Bunnings has provided an important leadership role as the Scheme has developed and we look forward to supporting their program as we move into this exciting new era.”
Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction, Trevor Evans said that the Australian government welcomes this important move by Bunnings.
“With the continued use of batteries in handheld devices such as power tools, we need industry leaders like Bunnings to step up to significantly increase Australia’s battery collection and recycling and help our circular economy grow,” he said.
“It will take all of us—governments, industry and the community—working together to ensure that Australian consumers are able to safely and responsibly manage all types of used batteries at their end-of-life.”