The Battery Network has appointed Adam Greenberg as Vice President of Services and Solutions. In this role, Greenberg will oversee customer relationships, develop market opportunities, and deliver solutions for battery safety, collection, and end-of-life management. Greenberg brings nearly two decades of experience in recycling, critical materials, and supply chains. He previously served as Vice President of Supply Chain at Solcoa Industries and National Account Manager at Cirba Solutions, working across battery recycling streams including electric vehicles and energy storage systems. The Battery Network, formerly Call2Recycle, is a non-profit organisation that has managed battery collection and recycling programmes across the United States for over 30 years. The organisation provides battery safety solutions and stewardship services supporting a circular economy.

A battery of concerns. What aggregate producers should know about lithium-ion battery fires. By Andrea Johnson If you work in aggregates, lithium-ion battery fires probably are not keeping you up at night. Your operations handle stone, sand and gravel, not the commingled loads of construction debris, household waste and consumer goods where batteries tend to hide. That distinction matters, and it is worth stating plainly: the aggregate industry has a far lower exposure to battery-related fire incidents than sectors like municipal solid waste, single-stream recycling or construction and demolition debris processing. That said, "lower exposure" is not the same as "no exposure." As someone who spends a lot of time inside recycling and processing facilities across the country, I have watched this issue evolve from an occasional oddity to one of the more urgent safety conversations in its industry. Hidden danger. Lithium-ion batteries are showing up in places nobody expects: buried in mixed loads, tucked into discarded power tools, sitting inside e-bikes or vapes that end up in a dumpster. When a damaged or crushed battery cell is punctured or compressed, it can enter thermal runaway, a chain reaction that produces intense heat, off-gassing, and fire that traditional suppression methods often struggle to contain. Aggregate operations that also handle any recycled content, receive mixed materials from job sites, or share yard space with C&D processors are not entirely insulated from that risk. At the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA), Rock Products has made battery safety a priority, not because its members are the primary source of these fires, but because its sector sits downstream of where these batteries enter the waste stream in the first place. Every one of Rock Products, whether Rock Products run a quarry, a C&D facility, or a household, generates and disposes of batteries. That shared responsibility is why this is a citizen issue as much as an industry one. To that end, CDRA has partnered with the National Waste and Recycling Association (NWRA), Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), and the Recycled Materials Association (REMA) to bring national attention to this issue. This includes aligning the message so the public can not only grasp the seriousness of this problem, but to also communicate where batteries can be taken for safe disposal and when possible, recycling. The Battery Network is providing one of the most successful efforts for battery diversion with more than 20,000 battery drop-off locations, including partnerships with Home Depot and Lowes. Its combined efforts aim to educate the public, improve collection infrastructure, and push for better labeling and handling standards before batteries ever reach a truck or a tipping floor. Legislatively speaking. On the legislative side, CDRA has been active in supporting state-level battery recycling legislation, including a recent letter of support sent to Pennsylvania senators backing extended producer responsibility measures for batteries. In addition, CDRA President John Thomas personally is advocating in Washington for this bill to pass. EPR policy shifts more of the cost and logistics of safe battery disposal back on to manufacturers, which could ease the burden currently carried by processors and haulers who are left managing the risk after the fact. There are 17 states with battery EPR legislation, where producers are required to offer or fund battery recycling and 18 with state battery recycling requirements in effect. For more information on states with battery legislation, go to https://batterynetwork.org/state-recycling-laws/. For aggregate producers, the practical takeaway is straightforward. Train your team to recognize what a lithium-ion battery or battery-powered device looks like, even in small or damaged form. Establish a clear protocol for isolating a suspected battery rather than compacting or transporting it. And if your operation accepts any mixed materials, even occasionally, treat battery awareness as a standing part of your safety briefing, not a one-time training. None of this suggests your yards are at meaningful risk today. But fire does not respect industry lines, and a battery fire that starts in a shared load or a nearby facility can still disrupt operations, threaten equipment, and put people in danger. Staying informed and staying connected to the broader recycling community working on this issue, is a reasonable investment for an industry that otherwise has very little reason to think about batteries at all. If you would like more information on how to be involved in this effort, please contact me at [email protected]. Andrea Johnson is executive director of the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association. She can be reached at [email protected].