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How to dispose of lithium batteries and prevent fires

Posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2021

Lithium batteries power our smartphones, laptops and many of the devices we use each day. It’s important we know how to properly dispose of the batteries to prevent contamination. 

These batteries are made up mostly of other metals, including iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and aluminium. With the demand for non-renewable resources increasing, it makes sense that we would recycle the materials we have before mining them.

Here are some tips on how to recycle lithium batteries:

Organise a collection time

First of all, don’t throw your old phone battery or other lithium battery packs in your home recycling bin. These can result in fires, combustion and chemical leaks and need to be handled with care. 

If you are looking to dispose of your phone battery or other lithium batteries laying around the house, find your local battery collection point online. Check with electronic retailers as they may buy back old phones and refurbish or recycle the battery themselves. 

The recycling process starts

Once the batteries are collected and sorted, they are sent into an automated crusher that breaks them down into pieces of metal, plastic and lithium depending on the product. 

The metal can be recovered in new products, while the lithium by-product is further purified for reuse. While most of this recycling process focuses on recovering materials like aluminium, copper and cobalt, there are ways to recover more of the lithium.

The next steps

While many lithium batteries end up in landfill each year, many more are sitting around the house collecting dust. Recycling protects the environment, and also keeps the cost down of mining to produce future goods.

If you are a business looking to recycle lithium batteries and other batteries too, give us a call on 08 9331 7271 to enquire about how Bonza Bins can help you out. The most affordable skip bins Canning Vale!