Report on lead acid battery waste and recycling

The Department of Environment commissioned the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Technology Sydney to review the main data sources related to used lead acid batteries (ULAB). The purpose of the report was to provide industry and waste regulators with a better understanding of key data related to waste arising and recycling of used lead acid batteries.
The report, A review of data on lead-acid batteries entering Australia and arising as waste, reviews work done for ABRI in 2010, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and some data coming from industry sources. The review finds problems and errors in each of the main data sources, with the ABRI 2010 study numbers the most preferable for regulatory use as a lower-bound estimate.
An updated 2012-13 figure of 137,000 tonnes of lead acid batteries arising as waste is provided by the ISF report. This is a conservative value with a figure of 153,000 tonnes being feasible if rates of growth from ABS imports data are correct.