I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

I've opened the battery case up, and it contains 9 x 18650 lithium ion
cells connected in series/parallel. Each parallel-connected set of
cells is giving an open-circuit voltage of about 2.8v.

The cells are beyond use, as they're below the minimum safe voltage.
So how best to dispose of them?

I'm considering either discharging them fully through a resistor to
remove any remaining energy, or wraping them with tape to prevent
accidental short circuit; then tossing them.

I guess they should go in the black-sack rubbish, as I don't think
they're recyclable. There's a battery recycling bin in my local
supermarket, but suspect that a bunch of LiIon cells would confuse the
hell out of whoever sorts through these.

Any thoughts? Am I over thinking this?

On 24/02/2018 19:58, Caecilius wrote:
I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 21:58:36 +0000, Bill Wright
wrote:

On 24/02/2018 19:58, Caecilius wrote:
I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

I live not far from a rubbish dump which recently caught fire (took 2
days to extinguish). They don't know what started it but their "best
guess" is batteries that had been put in the black bag instead of
being put in battery recycling.

On 25/02/2018 04:29, Graham Harrison wrote:

I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

I live not far from a rubbish dump which recently caught fire (took 2
days to extinguish). They don't know what started it but their "best
guess" is batteries that had been put in the black bag instead of
being put in battery recycling.


Rubbish dump fires are really good. They reduce landfill.

Bill

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 06:41:02 +0000, Bill Wright
wrote:

On 25/02/2018 04:29, Graham Harrison wrote:

I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

I live not far from a rubbish dump which recently caught fire (took 2
days to extinguish). They don't know what started it but their "best
guess" is batteries that had been put in the black bag instead of
being put in battery recycling.


Rubbish dump fires are really good. They reduce landfill.

Bill

They also chuck out some pretty unattractive smoke/fumes.

On 25/02/2018 09:29, Graham Harrison wrote:

Rubbish dump fires are really good. They reduce landfill.

Bill

They also chuck out some pretty unattractive smoke/fumes.


Nah! Good for the chest! When I see a big black fire I stand near it and
take deep breaths.

Bill

On 25/02/2018 06:41, Bill Wright wrote:
On 25/02/2018 04:29, Graham Harrison wrote:

I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

I live not far from a rubbish dump which recently caught fire (took 2
days to extinguish).Â*Â* They don't know what started it but their "best
guess" is batteries that had been put in the black bag instead of
being put in battery recycling.


Rubbish dump fires are really good. They reduce landfill.

Bill

There have been incidents where batteries in the normal rubbish
cause fires inside the bin lorry when it crushes the contents
down.

In article ,
Andrew wrote:
On 25/02/2018 06:41, Bill Wright wrote:
On 25/02/2018 04:29, Graham Harrison wrote:

I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

I live not far from a rubbish dump which recently caught fire (took 2
days to extinguish). They don't know what started it but their "best
guess" is batteries that had been put in the black bag instead of
being put in battery recycling.


Rubbish dump fires are really good. They reduce landfill.

Bill

There have been incidents where batteries in the normal rubbish
cause fires inside the bin lorry when it crushes the contents
down.

Isn't there a hillside in Wales which was a used tyre dump which is still
smordering after many years?

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

Actually a while ago a fire ata local recycling centre was eventually
tracked down to such cells going internal short and setting the rest of the
pile of rubbish alight.
I guess the best bet is to do whatever your council suggests, here all
batteries have to be tied in a plastic, non bio degradable bag and left on
top of the tin glass and plastic recycle bin.

I have no idea what becomes of them of course, but at least that is their
problem not ours!
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
news
On 24/02/2018 19:58, Caecilius wrote:
I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Chuck them in the normal bin like everyone else does.

Bill

On 25/02/2018 08:48, Brian Gaff wrote:
Actually a while ago a fire ata local recycling centre was eventually
tracked down to such cells going internal short and setting the rest of the
pile of rubbish alight.
I guess the best bet is to do whatever your council suggests, here all
batteries have to be tied in a plastic, non bio degradable bag and left on
top of the tin glass and plastic recycle bin.

All shops that sell a significant number of batteries have to provide a
recycling bin. I think the only common kinds you can't put in there are
car or motorcycle batteries.

--
Max Demian

In article ,
Max Demian wrote:
All shops that sell a significant number of batteries have to provide a
recycling bin. I think the only common kinds you can't put in there are
car or motorcycle batteries.

Car batteries have a scrap value so are recycled. Take them to your local
scrap yard.

--
*Change is inevitable ... except from vending machines *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Saturday, 24 February 2018 19:58:21 UTC, Caecilius wrote:
I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

I've opened the battery case up, and it contains 9 x 18650 lithium ion
cells connected in series/parallel. Each parallel-connected set of
cells is giving an open-circuit voltage of about 2.8v.

The cells are beyond use, as they're below the minimum safe voltage.
So how best to dispose of them?

I'm considering either discharging them fully through a resistor to
remove any remaining energy, or wraping them with tape to prevent
accidental short circuit; then tossing them.

I guess they should go in the black-sack rubbish, as I don't think
they're recyclable. There's a battery recycling bin in my local
supermarket, but suspect that a bunch of LiIon cells would confuse the
hell out of whoever sorts through these.

Any thoughts? Am I over thinking this?

the battery recycling bin is obviously the place for them.


NT

On 24/02/2018 22:52, wrote:
On Saturday, 24 February 2018 19:58:21 UTC, Caecilius wrote:
I need to dispose of a ten-year old laptop battery, which is no longer
needed as the laptop was decommissioned a couple of years ago.

I've opened the battery case up, and it contains 9 x 18650 lithium ion
cells connected in series/parallel. Each parallel-connected set of
cells is giving an open-circuit voltage of about 2.8v.

The cells are beyond use, as they're below the minimum safe voltage.
So how best to dispose of them?

I'm considering either discharging them fully through a resistor to
remove any remaining energy, or wraping them with tape to prevent
accidental short circuit; then tossing them.

I guess they should go in the black-sack rubbish, as I don't think
they're recyclable. There's a battery recycling bin in my local
supermarket, but suspect that a bunch of LiIon cells would confuse the
hell out of whoever sorts through these.

Any thoughts? Am I over thinking this?

the battery recycling bin is obviously the place for them.


Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide special bags
for putting batteries in. I left one or two batteries in the bags for
months before they were eventually taken.

--
Michael Chare

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:35:26 GMT, pamela wrote:

Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide special
bags for putting batteries in. I left one or two batteries in the
bags for months before they were eventually taken.

We don't get such battery bags at all, so I throw all my batteries
in the usual bin.

We can put them in any strong, transparent bag and put them with the blue
(recycling) bin, usually tied to the handle.
I use a bag that's long enough, tie a knot in it and just close the bin's
lid below the knot. It goes near the handle so that it's obvious - save the
bindroids having to untie the bag.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 14:40:13 GMT, pamela wrote:

On 13:52 25 Feb 2018, PeterC wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:35:26 GMT, pamela wrote:

Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide
special bags for putting batteries in. I left one or two
batteries in the bags for months before they were eventually
taken.

We don't get such battery bags at all, so I throw all my
batteries in the usual bin.

We can put them in any strong, transparent bag and put them with
the blue (recycling) bin, usually tied to the handle. I use a bag
that's long enough, tie a knot in it and just close the bin's lid
below the knot. It goes near the handle so that it's obvious -
save the bindroids having to untie the bag.

Life's too short to add another ritual to my day.

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells go
in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?

If experience with our recent fire locally is anything to go by I'm
not sure "they" really know. That said, down here in Somerset we're
being encouraged NOT to put batteries in our general waste becuse
"they" believe that there is a risk.

The airline industry has become very wary of certain types of battery
since Boeing had some (used by the aircraft) catch fire on brand new
787s. Most airlines now carry specialised equipment in the cabin in
case laptop batteries catch fire and there are new rules about bulk
shipments in cargo holds (that's the hold of passenger planes, not
just all freight aircraft).

On 25/02/2018 18:04, Graham Harrison wrote:
On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 14:40:13 GMT, pamela wrote:

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells go
in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?

If experience with our recent fire locally is anything to go by I'm
not sure "they" really know. That said, down here in Somerset we're
being encouraged NOT to put batteries in our general waste becuse
"they" believe that there is a risk.

The airline industry has become very wary of certain types of battery
since Boeing had some (used by the aircraft) catch fire on brand new
787s. Most airlines now carry specialised equipment in the cabin in
case laptop batteries catch fire and there are new rules about bulk
shipments in cargo holds (that's the hold of passenger planes, not
just all freight aircraft).

If a mobile phone catches fire bunging it in a bucket of water is the
recommended remedy.

--
Max Demian

pamela wrote:

On 18:04 25 Feb 2018, Graham Harrison wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 14:40:13 GMT, pamela
wrote:

On 13:52 25 Feb 2018, PeterC wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:35:26 GMT, pamela wrote:

Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide
special bags for putting batteries in. I left one or two
batteries in the bags for months before they were eventually
taken.

We don't get such battery bags at all, so I throw all my
batteries in the usual bin.

We can put them in any strong, transparent bag and put them with
the blue (recycling) bin, usually tied to the handle. I use a
bag that's long enough, tie a knot in it and just close the
bin's lid below the knot. It goes near the handle so that it's
obvious - save the bindroids having to untie the bag.

Life's too short to add another ritual to my day.

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells
go in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?

If experience with our recent fire locally is anything to go by
I'm not sure "they" really know. That said, down here in
Somerset we're being encouraged NOT to put batteries in our
general waste becuse "they" believe that there is a risk.

The airline industry has become very wary of certain types of
battery since Boeing had some (used by the aircraft) catch fire on
brand new 787s. Most airlines now carry specialised equipment in
the cabin in case laptop batteries catch fire and there are new
rules about bulk shipments in cargo holds (that's the hold of
passenger planes, not just all freight aircraft).

Laptops often use relatively powerful lithion ion rechargeable
batteries and there have been fires with some models.

On the other hand, I was thinking of domestic alkaline cells (AA,
AAA, etc) or (silver/alkaline/lithium) button cells. There may be
some case for disposing of these separately but I wonder how strong
it is and whether fire safety has anything to do with it.

I don't think fire is an issue except with some Lithium cells.
Mercury, which is quite insidiously toxic and can leak into groundwater
used to be used in some button cells,[1] but I don't think it is any
more. But it is largely metal toxicity which is seen as a risk when
batteries are disposed of in landfill or incinerated. I must admit I
am pretty ignorant about which current batteries present a serious risk.

[1] Button cells can kill small children if swallowed, so however they
are disposed of they should be well packaged so they can't fall out in
the house or in the street.

--

Roger Hayter

On 25/02/2018 14:40, pamela wrote:
On 13:52 25 Feb 2018, PeterC wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:35:26 GMT, pamela wrote:

Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide
special bags for putting batteries in. I left one or two
batteries in the bags for months before they were eventually
taken.

We don't get such battery bags at all, so I throw all my
batteries in the usual bin.

We can put them in any strong, transparent bag and put them with
the blue (recycling) bin, usually tied to the handle. I use a bag
that's long enough, tie a knot in it and just close the bin's lid
below the knot. It goes near the handle so that it's obvious -
save the bindroids having to untie the bag.

Life's too short to add another ritual to my day.

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells go
in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?


The argument applies to plastic straws too. Which is why they are
always the most frequently encountered plastic waste on shorelines.

every supermarket has a waste battery collection tub.

And there are also things called rechargeable batteries to avoid
single-use alkaline batts.

In article ,
Andrew wrote:
On 25/02/2018 14:40, pamela wrote:
On 13:52 25 Feb 2018, PeterC wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:35:26 GMT, pamela wrote:

Where I am in Wales the council refuse collection provide
special bags for putting batteries in. I left one or two
batteries in the bags for months before they were eventually
taken.

We don't get such battery bags at all, so I throw all my
batteries in the usual bin.

We can put them in any strong, transparent bag and put them with
the blue (recycling) bin, usually tied to the handle. I use a bag
that's long enough, tie a knot in it and just close the bin's lid
below the knot. It goes near the handle so that it's obvious -
save the bindroids having to untie the bag.

Life's too short to add another ritual to my day.

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells go
in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?


The argument applies to plastic straws too. Which is why they are
always the most frequently encountered plastic waste on shorelines.

every supermarket has a waste battery collection tub.

And there are also things called rechargeable batteries to avoid
single-use alkaline batts.

my hearing aids don't take rechargeable batteries

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

Andrew wrote:
On 25/02/2018 14:40, pamela wrote:

How much difference does it really make if half a dozen AA cells go
in the main rubbish - even if thousands of people are doing it?


The argument applies to plastic straws too. Which is why they are
always the most frequently encountered plastic waste on shorelines.

As someone who collects rubbish from our local beach on a daily basis I
have to say I think thats complete ********. Plastics straws on our
beaches make up about 0.0001% of plastic waste.

I think it a lie being spread so that we can all think that were saving
the planet by refusing plastic straws, very like the arguments for
unplugging phone chargers. Greenwash nonsense.

We need to do a *lot* more to reduce plastic waste on beaches than just
refuse plastic straws.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls