Lithium recycling

15 September 2022

With the increasing popularity of cell phones, the use of lithium batteries became more and more popular.
They are more common in everyday life than you might think and can certainly pose risks in specific situations.
That’s why it’s so important to recycle lithium safely.
And for collection and recycling of lithium batteries and lithium batteries, IT Recycling is the right place to go.
Good to know: lithium recycling is NOT free and costs €2.50 per kilo plus €100.00 start-up costs.
To make an appointment for lithium recycling, call 0413-249756 directly or easily make an appointment online. This service only applies to businesses, not individuals.

If the lithium batteries and accumulators are still in computers or cell phones

Since lithium batteries are extremely dangerous and can catch fire with the slightest damage, a safe way of recycling is necessary!
IT recycling has therefore turned the entire system upside down, modified fire protection and relocated the storage of lithium batteries.
We have our environmental permit When the batteries and accumulators are still in the computers, laptops or other devices then it is actually more about ordinary computer recycling.
We then remove the battery(s) or batteries from the device at a later stage in the recycling process, but for the user of the laptops, computers or cell phones it is the same process as computer recycling.
So you can simply keep devices – even if they still contain lithium batteries and accumulators – and have them disposed of by IT Recycling free of charge.

If the batteries and accumulators are loose

By this we mean that it is only the batteries or accumulators, so they are no longer in a device.
Unfortunately, you cannot have the loose batteries collected for free.
This is because lithium recycling is currently much more expensive than the metals that come from the various devices.

Storage lithium batteries

Lithium batteries are incredibly flammable.
Therefore, we recommend that lithium batteries should always be stored outside, not indoors.
If you store lithium batteries for eventual recycling, it is important that they are stored in special blue barrels with a special flame-extinguishing substance called vermiculite.
This is a legal requirement.
This all sounds difficult, but fortunately we offer advice.
You can borrow both the blue barrels and the vermiculite for free from IT Recycling.

At IT-Recycling, we have turned the whole system upside down to achieve a safe way of recycling lithium.
For example, we have modified our environmental permit and, as one of the first in the Netherlands, we have a special, active fire safe container for the depreciated lithium batteries.
Furthermore, we are equipped with a special fireproof roll container (up to 1100 degrees) in our mobile hard disk shredder.

Tips from our experts

Here are a few more tips from our experts that will greatly reduce the likelihood of problems:

Take old lithium batteries really seriously.
Think about your own safety and the safety of your colleagues;
Always store old lithium batteries outside;
Buy a special F500 fire extinguisher and notify your safety advisor.
Do you do FAFS training?
Tell your trainer you have lithium batteries and an F500 extinguisher on hand;
Before choosing a recycler, find out if they are ADR certified, if they are allowed to accept batteries and if they have WEEELABEX certification;
Store the old lithium batteries and lithium batteries OUTSIDE in a special plastic barrel with a UN mark and fill the barrel halfway with vermiculite (available at hardware stores);
Small amounts of lithium batteries and accumulators can go to the recycling or supermarket.
That’s really better than storing them!
Larger quantities?
Have an expert do this, you really can’t do this yourself.
Do you have a phone or device that suddenly starts smoking?
Use gloves and take the device outside as soon as possible.
Let it burn out there.
Never extinguish it!
Fire and lithium batteries?
Life-threatening!
Then evacuate your company as soon as possible.
Use only two people and the special F500 fire extinguisher.
Lithium fire causes toxic gases at lightning speed, so be really careful!
You really shouldn’t extinguish the fire with water, you’ll get an explosion.
Also important to know: fire extinguishers other than the F500 will not work.