Where to Put Broken Electrical Appliances and Dead Batteries?

Smartphones, laptops, shavers, torches, toys or drills are all electronic devices and contain lithium batteries. Employees in sorting centres are not happy when they see these electrical appliances. The batteries can cause fires and small explosions when they get mechanically damaged. This damage can be caused by a wheel loader or by the grabber on a crane that moves the bags around, or when the bags are mechanically torn open at the start of the sorting process. There are also dangers later on in the process, when separated PMD material streams are compressed into bales. If a battery has got in among them, it is also damaged during compression.

What causes the sorting error?

One possible explanation is simply a wrong idea. Small electrical appliances do often contain plastic. It might be a plastic toy, a remote control, a smartphone, you name it. Perhaps people think it should go into the blue bag because it is a plastic product or contains a lot of metal. However, only packaging is sorted and recycled from the PMD bag. This obviously does not include electrical appliances and batteries, so battery-operated products like toys should not be there. Anything that runs on batteries or electricity should be sorted safely so it can be recycled correctly in a specialised process. This avoids endangering employees in sorting and recycling plants who are working with other types of waste.

You can remove used batteries from the device and hand them in at one of the many Bebat collection points throughout Belgium, including at most recycling centres and supermarkets. More information is available at www.bebat.be.

Old electrical and electronic appliances such as hairdryers or electronic toys can be taken to all Recupel collection points, including recycling centres, charity or thrift shops and electrical stores. For more information, go to www.recupel.be.