AUSTRALIA: the Great Barrier Reef, pristine beaches鈥� and municipal landfill sites so contaminated they probably require special containment. Half a million car batteries end up in Australian landfills each year, according to John Lawson of recycling company .
Lawson, speaking at the conference in Adelaide last week, says his firm pulls out 60 to 80 batteries a day from the Eastern Creek landfill in Sydney, and that 3 per cent of the rubbish entering his recycling plant is hazardous, including the heavy metals in computers and cellphones. 鈥淭oxic material should not be in the waste stream in the first place,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t is a barrier to the economic recycling of other materials.鈥�
Presumably, Lawson says, similar waste arrives at other landfills in the country, with potentially detrimental effects on health and the environment. He estimates that batteries alone add enough lead to the average landfill for it to be classified as hazardous or industrial waste.
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