Committed to environmental sustainability, B-cycle Accredited Battery Steward SALTO Oceania has extended their partnership with Ecobatt to include Local in order to roll out a new battery recycling initiative within apartment spaces in Kensington, Melbourne.

Ecobatt will set up their recycling receptables at Local’s apartment project in Kensington to ensure that all used batteries, especially from SALTO smart locks, are collected and recycled responsibly at the company’s facilities in Campbellfield.

Local is a Melbourne-born Build to Rent (BTR) business that operates at net zero and has 883 apartments in Kensington and South Melbourne now under construction.

Image Credit: SALTO Systems

Local Co Founder and Co CEO Dan McLennan states that every element of the company’s projects are designed with the environment in mind to improve the connection, comfort and communities involved.

“Our buildings are set up to operate at net zero. They will be fully electric and will utilise maximum renewable energy while producing minimal waste, so ensuring that SALTO could guarantee that our on-premises batteries were going to be recycled was a non-negotiable for us,” said McLennan.

SALTO APAC Living Spaces Lead Cedric Duigou has echoed Local’s green intentions as he states that SALTO is also 100 per cent committed to sustainability and reducing their impact on the environment.

“When Local approached us to explore the recycling of our lock batteries, we were excited to implement this initiative together,” said Duigou.

This close-loop lifecycle for spent batteries aligns with the battery recycling initiative, B-cycle, founded by the Battery Stewardship Council (BSC) and launched in February 2022.

The B-cycle scheme is backed by the Australian Government and has recycled 38 million AA batteries during its first six months alone.

Also endorsed by the BSC, Ecobatt is an Australian-owned battery recycling company that offers storage and recycling solutions for all batteries — including lithium-ion batteries used by EVs.