Japan Aims to Eliminate Serious Lithium Battery Fires by 2030

Tokyo, Dec. 23 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government Tuesday released a package of measures to eliminate serious lithium-ion battery fires by 2030, following a series of ignition incidents involving the batteries whose use is spreading fast. In the package, drawn up by central government agencies including the Environment Ministry, local governments and companies are urged to properly dispose of used lithium-ion batteries. Swollen or deformed batteries are particularly prone to ignition. Local governments that collect household waste are struggling with battery-caused fires. The central government will investigate how municipalities collect, store and dispose of lithium-ion batteries to gather successful cases that can be shared with other municipalities. Additionally, discussions will be held with municipalities, manufacturers and battery disposal companies to develop measures to handle swollen or deformed batteries. The central government will open a portal site by the end of next March to comprehensively gather information on how to prevent lithium-ion battery fires and make it widely known to the public. In response to an inflow of low-quality batteries from overseas through online transactions, the government will promote the use of a system to disclose the names of importers and distributors that cannot be reached even though their products raise safety concerns. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]