Sell & Parker has been part of the Australian recycling landscape for six decades. Founded in 1966, the company began as a modest scrap-metal operation before growing into one of the nation’s largest privately owned recyclers. Today, under the direction of Luke and Morgan Parker, the firm continues to expand its capabilities, adding a dedicated battery recycling facility that has quickly become a first for New South Wales.
At the heart of this operation is Craig Ley, a director at Sell & Parker Battery Recyclers, who has overseen the long and often complex process of establishing the site and obtaining regulatory approvals. The facility has taken more than two years to reach full licensing, with final approval granted only weeks ago. Ley said it represents an important step for both the company and the state. Sell & Parker Battery Recyclers now operates the only EPA-authorised facility in New South Wales licensed to handle and store lithium batteries.
Understanding the risk
Recycling lithium-ion batteries is not like managing any other waste stream. The dangers are constant and unpredictable, something Ley is clear about. For this reason, the site has been designed around the assumption that fires will happen.
“A fire can occur at any time. You can get a battery that looks stable; it sits there for a couple of days, and then it catches fire,” he said. “It’s not a matter of if we have a fire; it’s when.”
The facility’s defences are extensive. It operates with 24-hour monitoring, thermal cameras, and CO₂ detectors that can identify heat or combustion long before flames appear. Every part of the site has been engineered to contain an incident, including a fully bunded containment site designed to hold water and runoff if the fire brigade needs to intervene. Ley explained that New South Wales Fire and Rescue have been learning more about lithium fires, but traditional suppression methods still have limits.
“Water doesn’t put out lithium fires,” he said. “The fire brigade still needs to protect the surrounding area with water, but any water that hits the site in an incident is stored right here.”
Sell & Parker’s decision to install million-litre tanks and containment systems reflects a wider trend in the recycling sector. Lithium batteries have caused a rising number of fires across Australia, with insurers increasingly cautious about underwriting facilities that handle them. For the company, the investment in prevention and monitoring was essential.
Sorting, partnerships and traceability
Beyond safety, the facility’s operations focus on sorting and forwarding batteries to approved recyclers. The company does not process the batteries on-site. Instead, it consolidates and prepares them for specialist recycling companies.
“We collect in bulk form, sort into different chemistries, and send it off to recyclers that break it down and do the recovery work,” said Ley.
Incoming batteries are sorted by workers at a picking station. They separate larger units manually while an x-ray sorting machine identifies different types such as nickel-cadmium, lithium and alkaline. Ley noted that this x-ray sorter is the only one in New South Wales.
Currently, the company ships batteries to Envirostream and Nyrstar, both recognised for safe and compliant processing.
Ley said that the firm only uses companies it’s seen in action. Sell & Parker staff have seen the shredders, the recovery systems and where the black mass goes. They know exactly what happens to the material when it is being processed.
“Our maximum capacity at the facility is 20 tonnes,” Ley said. “We don’t hold more than that. The whole idea is to turn it over as soon as we get it.”
This insistence on traceability and compliance reflects the company’s broader reputation in the recycling industry.
“We have to be sure where it goes,” said Ley. “It can’t go into a warehouse, and it can’t just disappear.”
Licensing, collaboration and public education
Securing environmental approval was one of the company’s biggest challenges. Being the first operator in the state to apply for an EPA licence for lithium-battery storage meant that there was no template to follow. Local government approvals added further complexity.
Ley admits that the biggest challenge has been with the local council. As he pointed out, nobody wants lithium in their backyard, which he says is understandable due to the above-mentioned scenario of it’s not a matter of if there’s going to be a fire, but when.
However, he emphasised that the New South Wales EPA had been good to deal with throughout the process. The licensing requires the already-
mentioned safety protocols, thermal cameras, CO₂ detectors, retained water systems and engagement with the fire brigade. The company also provides training and tours for emergency-service personnel to improve industry understanding of lithium-related fire behaviour.
Education is not limited to firefighters. The facility also aims to help the public understand safe battery disposal.
Sell & Parker Battery Recyclers is expanding its network through its container-deposit sites – known to the public as Return and Earn centres – where customers can drop off batteries alongside bottles and cans. These locations have proven effective for small battery collection, especially when combined with incentives such as rebates for site owners.
The company has also invested in Australian-made containers designed for safe battery transport and storage. Made with a fire-suppressant material called PyroBubbles, the containers can encapsulate and smother a burning cell by cutting off its oxygen supply. Ley described the innovation as “a clever product that keeps the risk contained”.
Building a sustainable future
For Sell & Parker, the new battery-recycling facility is both a business venture and a public service. The company has spent heavily to meet environmental requirements, from purpose-built containment systems to around-the-clock surveillance.
“It’s expensive to do what we’ve done,” Ley said. “You can put cameras in, but it’s no good if they’re not monitored. We’ve got someone watching 24 hours a day.”
He admitted that the operation is not yet profitable – yet, but the company is using its visibility as one of the bigger players in the market to set an example to the rest of the industry.
Part of that visibility comes from the company’s broader involvement in the sector. Sell & Parker’s Morgan Parker serves on the Battery Stewardship Council board, helping shape national policy and promoting best practice in battery management. Ley sees this as essential leadership.
Looking ahead, the company plans to replicate its model in other regions, including the Northern Territory, where battery recycling remains limited. Expansion will depend on building demand and customer confidence.
“We just need customers,” Ley said. “We’re happy to work our way through, but it needs to be a level playing field. You’ve got to have an EPL licence, council approval, and all the accreditations. It’s not a level playing field at the moment.”
For now, the facility operates with a small core team of three or four staff but is supported by the company’s wider network of more than 480 employees. Although the journey has been slow and costly, Ley remains optimistic. The new facility represents a long-term investment in both environmental protection and public trust.
“We’ve been around for 60 years,” he said. “Next year’s our anniversary. We’ve seen the industry change, and we’ll keep changing with it.”
A legacy of responsibility
Sell & Parker’s evolution from a small family scrap business to a prominent player in regulated recycling shows how experience and innovation can coexist. Founded by Ross Parker and Max Sell, the company grew from a pair of trucks collecting metal to a national network of facilities processing up to 1,000 tonnes of scrap metal a day.
By embracing the complexities of lithium-battery recycling, it is positioning itself at the forefront of Australia’s circular-economy transition. Ley’s cautious but determined approach reflects the balance required in this new frontier: managing risk, protecting workers, and maintaining transparency from collection to recovery.
Battery fires may be inevitable, as Ley often says, but complacency is not. Through rigorous safety systems, careful partnerships and ab focus on compliance, the company’s new facility demonstrates what responsible battery recycling can look like and why it matters.