Lighting Council Australia will be officially launching ExitCycle – a battery recycling initiative for emergency and exit lighting supported by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection – from 9:45-11:00 am on October 7 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is partnering with Lighting Council Australia in a voluntary product stewardship initiative aimed at increasing the recycling rate of end-of-life emergency and exit lighting batteries.

It is estimated that:
•    90% of batteries used in emergency and exit lighting are nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd) with a small proportion of sealed lead acid (SLA) and nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries.
•    5 million Ni-Cd batteries are sent to landfill each year which equates to approximately 90 tonnes of cadmium.

ExitCycle will be based on, and complement, Lighting Council Australia’s existing FluoroCycle scheme for end-of-life mercury containing lamps.