Battery Recycling Made Easy
Batteries collected and recycled in an envronmenatally sound way
The All Clear Company is a one stop waste management and recycling shop. Our quick, efficient and easy to use solutions are suitable for all of your waste management and recycling/re-use needs.
Old batteries can cause harm to the environment when they are not recycled. The All Clear Company approach to the disposal of batteries will help to reduce the number of batteries that end up in landfill and instead creates a reusable product.
One of the many services The All Clear Company is able to offer is Battery recycling.
How battery recycling works
Battery reprocessing & recycling
Batteries have a wide range of metals which can be reused as secondary raw material.
Most batteries contain one of the following materials: Lead, nickel-cadmium, nickel hydride or mercury.
Nickel-hydride and lithium system recycling is currently at early stages but there are a large number of different recycling processes which are currently aimed at recovering a number of materials:
- Lead is recovered by separating the different materials that make up the battery, e.g. lead, plastics, and acid, prior to metallurgical processing. Or the batteries can be processed whole through heat treatment in a furnace with metals being recovered at the end.
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NiCd batteries can be reprocessed through a similar thermal process which recovers cadmium and iron-nickel for steel.
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NiMH batteries are reprocessed by a machine which separates the individual materials such as plastic, hydrogen and nickel. This is all processed in a vacuum to prevent the escape of hydrogen. The end product of this process has a high nickel content which is used when manufacturing stainless steel.
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Mercury button cells are processed using a vacuum thermal treatment where the mercury vaporises, condenses and eventually solidifies when temperatures are reduced.
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Zinc-carbon/air and alkaline-manganese batteries are reprocessed using a number of different methods. These include smelting and other thermal-metallurgical processes to recover the metal content, particularly zinc.
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Li-Ion batteries are reprocessed via paralysis which is another heat treatment with the primary recovery of the metal content.
What type of batteries do I have?
There are many different types of batteries used for a variety of purposes.
The main types are:
Wet-cell: Lead acid batteries are used to power vehicles and to run industry plant.
Dry-cell non-rechargeable: You will find these in many of your household battery powered goods.
Zinc carbon: These batteries are used in low drainage appliances such as clocks, torches, radios and shavers.
Alkaline manganese: These batteries can be found in such items as personal stereos and radio-cassette players.
Zinc chloride: As above.
Primary button cells:
Mercuric oxide: Used in hearing aids, pacemakers and photographic equipment.
Zinc air: Is an alternative to mercuric oxide button cells used as above.
Lithium: Used in watches and photographic equipment.
Silver oxide: Often smaller batteries used in watches and calculators.
Dry-cell rechargeable:
The purpose of rechargeable batteries is the same as the above but also includes:
Nickel cadmium, Nickel metal hydride and Lithium-Ion batteries: Often used to power tools, cordless appliances, mobile phones etc.
Nickel cadmium (NiCd): One of the most popular batteries on the market today. Used for cordless power tools, personal stereos, mobile telephones, lap-top computers, shavers and toys. Designed to have a life span of 4-5 years.
Nickel metal hydride (NiMH): Designed to be a less environmentally harmful alternative to NiCd and have a longer life.
Lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries: Has a greater energy storage capacity than NiCd and NiMH batteries.
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Battery recycling made easy by The All Clear Company.