FEATURE Which bin does this go in?
Where can you recycle spent electric bike batteries? That has been a tricky question, and
BikeBiz asks about those services
ILLUSTRATION BY ST ART SHUTTERSTOCK T
he subject of battery recycling has grown steadily in the national consciousness from wondering what to do with the triple-A cells once your TV remote has run out, to the much trickier issue of what to do with spent lithium-ion batteries. Be it vapes or
electric bike batteries, local authorities would much rather you don’t just throw them in the black bin (or is it the purple bin?). Actually, given that crushed vapes are now among the leading causes of bin lorry fires in the UK, councils are fast acknowledging that we need another bin entirely, a very specialist one. The trouble is, specialist battery recycling plants are
extremely few and far between. Many ultimately aren’t in the UK, so a lot of battery waste ends up shipped overseas, which
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in itself requires a lot of permits and paperwork. That takes time, plus highly specialist logistics, and so the potentially dangerous waste pile builds. In the automotive industry, cash has been thrown at the
problem. Specialists have been appointed at high cost, specialist logistics manages the flow of goods in reusable containers, and car dealers have been trained to handle spent battery packs. The comparatively cash-poor bike industry, well, we are doing our best to educate consumers on how to make their batteries last at the point of purchase. Inevitably, some customers don’t take advice on board, leave e-bikes dormant all winter and then wonder why the battery is not at its best the year after. This is already causing some problems. First things first, it is worth being aware that it is the legal
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