Forum Topic

Where to dispose of or recycle lithium batteries locally?

I have a battery that has swollen and apparently that’s bad news. Did a forum search for lithium battery recycling but there wasn’t a definitive answer. So does anyone know where these batteries can be safely disposed of locally? Recycling  is obviously the best solution but there is a lot of stuff online about how these batteries can spontaneously explode, ignite etc so leaving in an unattended container sounds risky. What’s the solution?Incidentally Ealing’s web site specifically forbids taking them to the recycling sites!

Norman Redfern ● 1715d16 Comments

Sainsbury's or Ryman's on the High Road?

Karen Foster ● 1715d

Put them in a bag in the green recycle box, LBH should collect them - did today for me…

Russell Pearson ● 1715d

I’m in Ealing, they do collect batteries but not sure if they accept lithium. The web site says “no lithium batteries” at the recycling centre.

Norman Redfern ● 1715d

Russell: Did the municipal recycling operatives look in the bag from out your green recycling box to note the lithium battery had been deposited in amongst your booze bottles?

Bobbie Carnegie ● 1715d

I suspect they do - you have to place electrical items in a bag, in the green box, or they will leave them there. Would defeat the object if they then just chucked it in with the bottles

Russell Pearson ● 1715d

I have put batteries in a bag in my green box (not lithium ones) and they were left behind by the collectors.  I checked the website and I'm sure it said they no longer collected these and to take them to Sainsbury/Dyas etc.

Vivienne Cox ● 1715d

It's a risk though isn't it relying on the municipality's recycling officers to check every bag in a green box 'specially if they're late on a round and in a hauury to make-up and clock-off conveniently with time to spare for a chat and a cuppa in the canteen? It never occurred to me to dump my used batteries in my recycling box. Those defunct little button batteries ~ where do they all go? Probably inside domestic dogs and the fish of the sea.

Bobbie Carnegie ● 1715d

Seems batteries shouldn’t be put in the green box! Sainsbury’s have a collection bottle for batteries large and buttonhttps://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20128/household_recycling_and_waste_collections/1601/small_electrical_and_electronic_appliance_recycling

Russell Pearson ● 1715d

https://uk.pcmag.com/laptops/135251/help-my-laptop-battery-is-swollen-now-whatIt is worth reading to understand more about lithium-ion batteries.

Philippa Bond ● 1715d

There are special recycling bins for electricals in Ealing and in Hounslow you can recycle small electricals in a bag kerbside and you can recycle electricals in a lot of other places that sell them (check each retailer) but I don't have the answer to swollen lithium-ion batteries.  They are responsible for a lot of fires.  We need to be careful to not keep electrical items with them charging continually.  More information here:https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 1715d

Damaged batteries can explode and cause fires.

Philippa Bond ● 1715d

Maybe set light to them and watch them until they go out?

Vivienne Cox ● 1715d

Apparently they can also explode.  E-scooters are no longer allowed on the underground following a fire or fires in tube trains. Years ago there were problems with laptops on planes and Samsung had a problem with a particular mobile catching fire. Design and manufacturing changes as time progresses.Overcharged, short circuited, damaged or submerged in water batteries appear to cause fires - there have been fires in waste collection vehicles and the fire at Townmead Road Recycling Centre was thought likely to have been caused like this.  As we all get more used to all this tech we can get a bit cavalier and less careful.  Here's what the London Fire Brigade say - they deal with about 24 fires caused by cables, batteries and chargers every week:https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/the-home/electrical-items/batteries-and-chargers/They ought to have the answer on swollen lithium batteries...Generally though you can take spent batteries back to where you bought them from because unless this has changed retailers who sell more than a certain number by law have to provide collection.  At Sainsbury's in Essex Place it was just inside the store as you enter from the car park.

Philippa Bond ● 1715d

Save that you may well succumb to the toxic fumes long before that. They are horrible things that burn with very little oxygen and can continue to burn underwater

N V Brooks ● 1714d

You're right Nigel - we tend to talk about fires - but as I understand it it is actually the smoke and fumes which often get to you first.  That is why there are so many prevention measures - fire doors, door closers, intumescent strips and compartmentation etc which are so important.

Philippa Bond ● 1714d

https://www.theearthawards.org/the-common-uses-of-lithium-ion-batteries/?amp

Philippa Bond ● 1695d