The good news is that we will still accept your steel case batteries and batteries with electronic components, provided they are lead acid batteries. You will need to deliver them to the usual address by different means.
We would recommend the use of a wood pallet, with the batteries wrapped and strapped. For safety reasons and compliance with the ADGC Packing Instruction P801, it is probably going to be best to transport as a single layer of batteries.
When received the steel cases will be manually removed or electronic components separated from the battery, in order for the battery to be recycled in the usual manner.
Historical Steel Case Battery Stacking Instructions
Previously we have permitted steel case batteries to be included in our BTS Containers, provided they were packed as per our instructions to eliminate any fire risk. As of September 2022, we are no longer permitting the inclusion of steel case batteries, for 2 reasons:
- We are now delivering our BTS Containers to the Nexus Recycling, for auto-unloading at their Bibra Lake facility. Nexus Recycling are unable to process steel case batteries and in fact they can damage their plant. They do have metal detectors installed which if steel case batteries are detected will shut down the whole plant to prevent them entering the battery crusher. Clearly they would prefer to prevent this occurring so as to minimise interruptions to production.
- By complete serendipity we had the first occurrence of a fire in one of our containers being returned from a mine site. The cause of the fire was a steel case battery being stacked on top of another battery, where it was resting on the battery’s terminals. The steel case enabled a short circuit between the terminals. Fortunately in this instance the fire was spotted and extinguished, keeping damage to a minimum, however our containers didn’t fair so well (see photos below).
Previous Video showing how to safely stack batteries into Battery Rescue’s BTS Container.
Previous Instructions
Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULAB) pose a fire risk, particularly if they retain residual charge. The main risks come from poor stacking and from the inclusion of metal objects and in particular steel case batteries that can cause a short circuit between 2 battery terminals.
For this reason, steel case batteries can never be stacked on top of other batteries where the steel case is resting on top of the underlying battery’s terminals. If possible, we recommend placing them at the bottom of the container. If this can’t be done due to the BTS Container already having several layers of batteries stacked inside, then the steel case battery must be insulated from the underlying battery. The easiest methods to achieve this are:
- Fold a cardboard box (so that it is at least 3cm thick and insert between the steel case and underlying battery terminals.
- Tape the terminals of the underlying battery with a heavy-duty tape.
All batteries should be stacked in the vertically, upright position and the batteries should be packed reasonably snuggly to prevent any excessive movement during transport. A battery than can topple on its side or upside-down during transport could represent a fire risk.
