EXITCYCLE aims to reduce the amount of toxic cadmium and lead entering the environment by increasing the recycling rate of end-of-life emergency and exit lighting batteries

In Australia, it is estimated that approximately 95% of emergency and exit lighting batteries currently end up in landfill each year.

Emergency and exit lighting batteries are among the most hazardous of all batteries. Cadmium, nickel and lead are toxic heavy metals that need to be carefully managed to minimise their potential impacts on humans and the natural environment.

Since it’s official launch in Queensland in 2015, EXITCYCLE has been steadily growing and now facilitates the responsible disposal of emergency and exit light batteries all over Australia.

There are two types of Signatories to the EXITCYCLE scheme – ‘Commercial Users’ and ‘Facilitators’. A Signatory can be both a Commercial User and a Facilitator.

A Commercial User is a business or organisation that has committed to recycle all the end-of-life emergency and exit lighting batteries generated by one or more specified sites over which it exercises operational control. In this context, ‘site’ refers to a building, factory, industrial facility, institution, retail space or location.

Facilitators have a range of roles in ensuring that end-of-life emergency and exit lighting batteries are recycled, collected and processed.