After one hugely expensive lithium battery fire on Boxing Day last year which set back its recycling plans for years, the ACT government certainly doesn't want another.
And yet potentially all it takes for another thermal runaway, like that which destroyed the Hume Materials Recycling Facility, is just one careless consumer.
The CSIRO estimated in a 2018 study that only about 10 per cent of lithium batteries in Australia are recycled, with the rest going to landfill or disposed incorrectly, and the numbers have barely shifted since.
That - and the ever-present fire threat - is the key reason for a campaign starting on Wednesday in which the ACT government will be pushing to raise consumer awareness of the lithium battery issue in the lead-up to Christmas.
The "don't bin batteries" campaign will be pushed across social media and digital web assets in the weeks ahead as tens of thousands of consumers purchase Christmas gifts which have either a connected or imbedded lithium battery.
"Batteries must never go in household waste or recycling bins," the messaging says.
"It only takes one battery to spark a fire. When batteries are compressed and crushed in waste collection trucks and facilities, they can spark fires putting staff lives, collection trucks, facilities and the environment at risk."
In October this year, the ACCC warned of the risks after receiving more than 230 product safety reports relating to lithium-ion batteries in the past five years alone, with one person killed in a fire believed to have been caused by the power source.
It's a fight against a fast-rising, battery-powered product avalanche for the national battery stewardship scheme. The big issue is simply a lack of awareness that the everyday device they use - whether it's an electric toothbrush, cordless headphones or a mobile phone - contains a battery which needs to be separated out before it is binned.
Margaret Kitchin, the executive branch manager of ACT No Waste, said the campaign will run through the summer and into February.
"There are several pressure points around the timing of this [campaign]," she said.
"There is Christmas time coming where people buy a lot of these [battery-powered] articles but there is a growing understanding across the whole [waste] industry that batteries are a growing risk."
For the recycling industry, the risks start at the kerbside when the yellow bins are picked up by compactor trucks. Like most jurisdictions across the country, the ACT has had several truck fires started when the batteries are crushed by the trucks' hydraulic compactors.
A problem for many consumers is that the lithium batteries - especially in inexpensive children's toys - are sometimes embedded deeply in the product.
Simplicity of operation means the recharge cord goes into a socket. The cycle of use then continues until the product either fails, or falls out of favour. But if there's no clearly visible means of accessing the battery, nor advice on the product that it contains a battery, then some consumers feel it is safe to throw it away. And that's a real risk both for the waste transport and the processing stages.
"We have this great partnership with B-cycle, which is backed by the battery stewardship council, to provide as many outlets as we can for people to separate out their batteries," Ms Kitchin said.
"Across the ACT, we have more than 60 places you can take them: Bunnings and Woolies and the like
"But the important thing is raising that awareness; we need to get people to think about whether the product they are about to throw away has a battery, and then to dispose of it properly."
