SWANA Announces a New Volunteer Workgroup for Lithium-Ion Battery Safety

SWANA is creating a new lithium-ion battery workgroup, bringing together industry professionals to identify immediate and long-term solutions to lithium-ion battery management and fire prevention.

Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are becoming increasingly common in collections vehicles and at collection sites, transfer stations, MRFs, and landfills, resulting in a safety risk and costly property damage. The SWANA  Strategic Plan specifically includes the need to address lithium-ion batteries, as they are a growing safety risk for workers in the industry.

All SWANA members are welcome to join this workgroup. This group is for you if:

• Your organization is experiencing fires caused by lithium-ion batteries,
• You’d like to learn and share information on how to better respond to and manage these fires,
• Your job includes communicating about or managing proper lithium-ion battery recycling,
• You are responsible for or can advocate for policies that will improve safety surrounding lithium-ion batteries,
• You have ideas and/or technologies to share on preventing this issue, or
• You want to prevent these fires from happening.

The SWANA Lithium-Ion Battery Workgroup will investigate solutions and develop recommendations that will leverage communications, policy, technology, and innovation. Outcomes will ideally include the creation and compilation of resources to support SWANA members with this growing challenge.

As a member of this workgroup, you will have the opportunity to discuss challenges and potential solutions with other industry experts and to develop recommendations for tackling this urgent issue.

Join us to discuss solutions to this important challenge to the industry. To sign up, please contact Kristyn Oldendorf, Director of Public Policy, at koldendorf@swana.org and Natalie Garcia, Technical Divisions Manager, at ngarcia@swana.org with the subject line “SWANA Battery Workgroup.”