Power tools should never be put in your recycling bin at home. Currently, Australia doesn’t have a national recycling scheme for electrical products, however, there are recycling options.
- Do not put the power tool in the garbage bin if it contains a battery. Batteries in bins are fire hazards. If you can remove the battery from the power tool, the battery can be recycled separately. Find a battery recycler.
Why recycle
Power tools, both rechargeable and plug-in varieties, are classified as e-waste (electrical waste), which is the fastest growing waste stream in Australia. Recycling power tools enables the recovery of various metals and plastics and helps prevent toxic heavy metals from leaching into the environment via landfills.
A typical power tool contains a range of materials including iron, steel, aluminium, copper and various plastics, which can all be recycled. Sending power tools to landfill contributes to environmental problems such as the non-sustainable use of resources and the contamination of groundwater caused by toxic metals leaching into the soil.
Power tools that contain rechargeable batteries are particularly dangerous, as the batteries contain highly toxic metals such as nickel and cadmium. These batteries are classified as hazardous waste and should always be removed from the power tool and recycled separately. Some recyclers will accept both the power tool and the battery, however, if they do not accept batteries, they can be dropped off for recycling at designated battery collection points.
What happens to them
E-waste recyclers disassemble the power tools and sort the materials for recycling. If there are problems identifying and separating materials into specific types, the complete tool is shredded by more conventional methods and only metals are recovered. This can be a problem with older tools where materials have not been coded or identified.
The nickel-cadmium batteries are sent to an approved recycling facility where the nickel, steel and cadmium are recovered. The recovered metals are made into other products, while the cadmium can be returned to battery manufacturers to create a fully closed loop recycling system.
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