Aaron Blum, Co-Founder, COO and Chief Compliance Officer of ERI, the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States, stressed the urgency of responsibly managing lithium batteries at a public workshop meeting presented by the State of California’s CalRecycle.

The workshop, “Threats Posed by Lithium Battery Fires,” featured a roundtable of experts, including Blum, discussing the increased prevalence of battery related fires at waste management facilities, the impacts to recycling and material recovery facilities in California, and existing tools and potential solutions.

“It’s important to realize that lithium batteries are not going away,” said Blum. “So they need to be at the top of all discussions in this industry with regard to best practices on handling them through the entire supply chain. I’m glad CalRecycle and the State of California in general are engaging in this important and educational dialogue.”