Taping recycled batteries

[johnridley]

Ugh, what a PITA. There's a new law that recycled batteries must have both ends taped before dropping them in recycling. Apparently there have been fires during transportation due to batteries shorting and discharging.

If people would actually test their damn batteries and use the ones that aren't dead, that probably wouldn't happen. A large percentage of the batteries I pull from the recycling pile here at work are still in pretty good shape, many still practically new. People just grab 4 random AA cells from their junk drawer, put them in a device, and when it stops working, they toss all the cells. Lots of times there's one dead flat battery and 3 good ones in there.

Comments

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

I just wrap my bundles in aluminum foil and let them sit in the rain for a few days before dropping them off.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't drop them off then. They won't take them curbside and they won't allow dropoff without taped ends. You can't expect the guys at the recycle center to know or trust that you really did discharge them. They're just following the DOT reg.

Actually with the huge pile that we have here, if I just wanted to drain them, personally I was thinking I'd just dump them in saltwater for a day.

[c0nsumer.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I forgot the ;)

[forestweather.livejournal.com]

Our curbside recycler takes them & hasn't sent us a note about taping the ends. With what shall I tape them, dear Joh-ohn, dear Joh-ohn? With what shall I tape them, dear Joh-on, with what?

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

They'll probably get to it eventually. GR recycling doesn't even mention that they batteries at all on their website.
Here's Ann Arbor's info on the subject (pdf)

They say basically any kind of tape; clear, duct, electrical.

If they haven't heard about it, they won't have announced it, but they may find that they're sitting on a ton of batteries that they can't ship due to the DOT reg.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Ditto -- I (Ypsi twp) can drop them off curbside and haven't heard about taping the ends.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Not sure what they're going to do; I wonder if they'll wind up just disposing of these, or having prison/slave labor tape them, or what? It's a DOT rule, so they can receive them, they just can't transport them.

Here's the original DOT letter:
http://www.lamprecycling.com/local/pdf/Battery_Recycling_Advisory_Letter.pdf

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... it seems that to comply, one _could_ put similarly sized batteries (really, any of not non-button ones) together in a bag, having taped around them so that a + could not intersect a -, and then put all of those into a baggie. We are already supposed to segregate by battery type and enclose each type in a separate baggie.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well, like most laws, it does not require you to do a sensible thing, it requires you to comply. The only listed alternative to taping is to put each battery INDIVIDUALLY into a sealed plastic bag.

For instance, throwing all the batteries into a tub of salt water overnight would be fine too, they'd all be discharged completely. But there'd be no way to prove that had been done except for individually testing each battery.

In reality I was at Ann Arbor Recycling last week and only about half the batteries were taped. There was nobody enforcing the rule.