Lithium Australia harvests battery waste as fertiliser

Lithium Australia’s 90 per cent-owned subsidiary, Envirostream Australia, has harvested the grain from its test site in WA’s Wheatbelt, completing its trial of zinc and manganese derived from recycled alkaline battery waste as a source of fertiliser micronutrients.

Envirostream will now move on to statistically analyse the grain and overall yield to assess the performance of the micronutrients. Lithium Australia expects the analysis to be conducted progressively through the first quarter of next year.

The field trial harvest took place at its test site in West Tambellup, near the regional centre of Kojonup, approximately 260km southeast of Perth.

WA’s Wheatbelt produces around 14 million tonnes of grain every year, however, the broadacre pastoralists in the region are challenged by low pH soils deficient in zinc, manganese and phosphate.

Whilst the northern hemisphere deploys commercially available fast-release micronutrient products, Envirostream has tailored its variant to be a slow-release type of fertiliser. It has incorporated the zinc and manganese into a conventional mono-ammonium phosphate fertiliser typically used in WA’s Wheatbelt.

Lithium Australia Managing Director and Envirostream Director, Adrian Griffin said: "The use of manganese and zinc, recovered from single use alkaline batteries provides significant environmental benefits. Lithium Australia and its subsidiaries are committed providing the battery industry with sustainable outcomes and ensuring as many spent batteries as possible are recycled rather than ending their life-cycle in landfill.”

Lithium Australia’ recycling division, Envirostream, developed its zinc and manganese-based micronutrient supplement from the mixed metal dust it collects from spent, single-use, disposable alkaline batteries.

The mixed metal dust is recovered from its battery recycling facility in Victoria and agglomerated with mono-ammonium phosphate fertiliser to deliver the slow-release product used in the field trials.

This product is a part of the company’s overall commitment to a “circular” battery economy, from raw materials manufacture to spent product recycling.

This could be a game-changer for both the company and the community if the results are as promising as Lithium Australia hopes - especially if the slow-release capability catches on with farmers as a potential cost saving against more frequent application of traditional fertilisers.

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