Lithium-ion battery is a very common battery closely related to our lives. Because it is a rechargeable battery, it is sustainable, but this does not mean it can be used indefinitely.
When its service life is exhausted, it needs to be treated as a waste battery.
Before I tell you how to deal with waste lithium-ion batteries, please don’t worry, let’s first have a brief understanding of lithium batteries.
What is a lithium-ion battery?
Lithium batteries can be divided into two types, one is a disposable lithium metal battery, and the other is a rechargeable lithium ion battery.
Lithium-ion batteries are mainly composed of positive electrode, negative electrode, electrolyte, and diaphragm. Among them, the positive electrode materials are commonly used lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate, ternary lithium, lithium manganese oxide, etc. The negative electrode materials are commonly used graphite, silicon, tin, etc. The electrolyte is commonly used lithium salts and some organic solvents. The diaphragm is commonly used polypropylene, polyethylene, etc.
The movement of lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes constitutes the process of battery charging and discharging.
Lithium-ion batteries are often used in power tools, toys, laptops, electric vehicles, household appliances, and other products.
Lithium-ion batteries are relatively safe
The five heavy metals that have a bad impact on the environment are arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium. Ordinary batteries contain three of these heavy metals. For example, lead-acid batteries contain lead, nickel-cadmium batteries contain cadmium, and some alkaline batteries and zinc-manganese batteries contain mercury. Therefore, it can be said that waste batteries are a kind of harmful garbage and need special treatment, otherwise, they will cause great harm to the environment.
We can see that lithium-ion batteries do not contain the above harmful heavy metals. Therefore, it is relatively safe and has a low risk of environmental pollution.
Nowadays, lithium-ion batteries will be used more and more in various products as safe and environmentally friendly batteries. It has become a perfect substitute for traditional harmful batteries.
For example, traditional electric vehicles often use lead-acid batteries as a power source. This battery is very harmful to the environment, especially the soil. But the emergence of lithium-ion batteries has become a good alternative to this battery.
How to deal with used lithium-ion batteries
Although lithium-ion batteries are safe and environmentally friendly, it does not mean that they can be disposed of at will. They cannot be recycled as general household waste.
If you want to dispose of them, please follow the steps below:
1. Disassembly
Some lithium-ion batteries can be removed from the device, while others are integrated with the device. If disassembly is required, please handle it carefully and do not forcefully disassemble or damage the battery. For devices that cannot be disassembled, please pack them separately in sealed bags and then send them to special recycling points for disposal.
2. Seal the ports
For disassembled lithium-ion batteries, please seal their positive and negative ports with insulating tape to prevent short circuits and accidental damage during transportation.
3. Seal the package
Please pack the used lithium-ion batteries in a separate sealed bag and mark them with words such as “waste battery”. This will not only help reduce the chance of battery contamination, but also remind others to pay attention to the contents of the package to increase vigilance.
4. Choose the right recycling channel
· If there is a special waste battery recycling box in the community, you can put the packaged waste batteries into the recycling box.
· Pay attention to the waste battery recycling points in your city, and you can send them to the recycling points.
· Some battery dealers, stores, supermarkets, and other places also provide battery recycling services.
Things to note
Here, it is necessary to mention some precautions about the disposal of waste lithium-ion batteries:
· Please do not dispose of used batteries by yourself, and do not discard batteries at will.
· Please do not let children touch used batteries.
· Please do not burn used batteries
· Please do not place used batteries in inappropriate environments, such as high temperature environments, humid environments, etc.
Write at the end
Used batteries are not completely worthless items. In the process of recycling and treating used batteries, it is necessary for us to pay attention to the reuse and resource recovery of batteries.
Whether it is a battery containing harmful heavy metals or a safe lithium-ion battery, some of their raw materials can be recycled through special processes. This resource recycling not only helps to reduce the consumption of natural resources, but also reduces battery manufacturing costs and environmental pollution.
For our common interests, please do a good job in the treatment and recycling of used batteries.
About the author
Liteway is a professional manufacturer and supplier of alkaline batteries, carbon-zinc batteries, and lithium batteries based in Ningbo, China.
We have more than 20 years of manufacturing and exporting experience in the battery field, providing battery manufacturing and OEM/ODM services to customers all over the world. We are a co-manufacturer for many battery brands and have been unanimously recognized by our partners during the cooperation process.
Lithium-ion batteries are one of our battery series. If you want to learn about our lithium-ion batteries, please click here.
If you want to cooperate with us and let us manufacture and customize batteries for you, please contact us.
