National Environment Protection Council Service Corporation Study into market share and stocks and flows of handheld batteries in Australia Trend analysis and market assessment report Final report Project name: Study into market share and stocks and flows of handheld batteries in Australia Report title: Trend analysis and market assessment report Authors: Kyle O’Farrell, Raphael Veit, Dan A’Vard Reviewers: Peter Allan, David Perchard Project reference: A14801 Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd (ABN 52 151 861 602) Document reference: R03‐05‐A14801 Suite G‐03, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton VIC 3053 Date: 14 July 2014 www.sru.net.au Disclaimer This report has been prepared on behalf of and for the exclusive use of National Environment Protection Council Service Corporation, and is subject to and issued in accordance with the agreement between National Environment Protection Council Service Corporation, and Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd. Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for any use of or reliance upon this report by any third party. Study into market share and stocks and flows of handheld batteries in Australia Page ii Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................... 5 E-1 Purpose ..................................................................................................................................... 5 E-2 Scope of this report ............................................................................................................ 5 E-3 Findings ..................................................................................................................................... 6 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 This report ............................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Handheld battery definition ............................................................................................ 11 1.3 Scope of study ...................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................ 12 1.5 Scope and data considerations .................................................................................... 12 2 STUDY METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 13 2.1 Classifications and definitions........................................................................................ 13 2.2 MFA system ............................................................................................................................ 13 2.3 Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 17 2.4 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................... 17 3 HANDHELD BATTERY SALES ................................................................................................. 18 3.1 Sales by battery size .......................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Sales by battery chemistry ............................................................................................. 19 3.3 Sales by battery weight range ...................................................................................... 20 3.4 Sales by product application area ............................................................................... 23 3.5 Sales by single use / rechargeable chemistries .................................................... 24 3.6 Sales by level of integration in products .................................................................. 25 3.7 Battery imports by Customs Tariff Code ................................................................. 26 3.8 Sales by jurisdiction ............................................................................................................ 27 4 HANDHELD BATTERY USE AND STORAGE .................................................................... 30 4.1 Battery use and storage periods .................................................................................. 30 4.2 Batteries in use (stocks) ................................................................................................... 30 5 HANDHELD BATTERY END-OF-LIFE DISPOSAL AND RECOVERY .................... 33 5.1 End-of-life disposal ............................................................................................................. 33 5.2 End-of-life recovery ............................................................................................................ 35 6 HANDHELD BATTERY TRENDS.............................................................................................. 40 6.1 Approach ................................................................................................................................. 40 6.2 Single use vs. rechargeable batteries ........................................................................ 41 6.3 Chemistries .............................................................................................................................. 42 7 MARKET ASSESSMENT AND BRANDS ............................................................................... 45 7.1 Summary of current major brand-owners and distributors ........................... 45 7.2 Retail World handheld battery sales data ............................................................... 47 7.3 Sustainability Victoria handheld battery recovery data ................................... 49 Study into market share and stocks and flows of handheld batteries in Australia Page iii Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd 8 DATA SENSITIVITY AND RELIABILITY................................................................................ 51 8.1 Sensitivity analysis ............................................................................................................... 51 8.2 Qualitative sensitivities discussion .............................................................................. 53 8.3 Data sensitivity and reliability conclusions ............................................................. 54 9 GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... 56 10 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 60 APPENDIX A – Stakeholders consulted .......................................................................................... 64 APPENDIX B – Detailed methodology............................................................................................. 67 B.1 MFA system development .............................................................................................. 68 B.2 Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 77 B.3 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................... 82 B.4 Reporting ................................................................................................................................. 85 APPENDIX C – Imports and exports of batteries ....................................................................... 86 APPENDIX D – Battery sales and recovery survey forms...................................................... 89 Study into market share and stocks and flows of handheld batteries in Australia Page iv Sustainable Resource Use Pty Ltd EXECUTIVE SUMMARY E-1 Purpose In April 2013 the Standing Council on Environment and Water (SCEW) agreed to place development of a model product stewardship scheme for handheld batteries on the 2013–14 workplan. On the advice of the Product Stewardship Advisory Group handheld batteries were listed in June 2013 as one of the Priority Products for development of stewardship arrangements on the 2013–14 Priority Product List as required by the Product Stewardship (Commonwealth) Act 2011 (The Act). As an outcome of this requirement the NEPC Service Corporation has commissioned this study to undertake a material flow analysis (MFA) on: stocks and flows of handheld batteries of 5 kilograms or less market share of major brand owners. A material flow analysis is an analytical method of quantifying flows and stocks of materials or substances in a well‐defined system, in this case for handheld batteries. MFA is based on two principles, system mapping and mass balance. The MFA system developed for this project is a model of Australian handheld battery flows, built up from estimated flows of historical and current battery sales, use and disposal, differentiated by chemistry, size, product application and other attributes. Sustainable Resource Use (SRU), in association with Perchards Ltd and Sagis Ltd, has been engaged by the NEPC Service Corporation to undertake this study on the targeted handheld battery products in Australia. The information