Battery Solutions, Inc - Howell

Our Mission

We continuously invest in new innovative practices and technologies to stay at the forefront of the rapidly transforming energy storage industry to offer environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to our customers. These advancements improve our overall performance and reduce financial barriers making it more attractive for people to recycle their batteries.

R2/RIOS™ Certified

We opted to become a leader among battery recyclers by obtaining Responsible Recycling (R2:2013) and Recycling Industry Operating Standards (RIOS™) certifications. These certifications come with rigorous auditing that focuses on top tier quality, environmental, health, and safety standards and that 100% of the batteries we collect do not end up in a landfill. Therefore, reducing your risk and liability by only using trusted battery processors that use the cleanest technology available to recycle your batteries.

Collection Methods

Large or small volumes, we have a solution for you. We offer one time pail for a special recycling projects or we have an auto-renew pail for your continuing recycling needs. We’ll ship the pail to you, you fill it with your used batteries, then send it back. With auto-renew, once we receive your pail, we will send an empty one back. Recycling all your batteries in one container, it’s that easy. For larger volumes, please call or email one of our battery specialist to customize a solution for your needs.

Portable Batteries

We recycle any volume of dry cell batteries and small electronics. We offer pail programs for smaller volumes. Try our iRecycle Kits for ordering as your needs dictate or if you would like a subscription, try our SmartRecycle System, we ship a new pail out to you when yours is returned to us, automatically. For larger volumes and reoccurring battery volumes, contact us to learn more about bulk collections.

Pail Program – For Smaller Volumes

We offer several different size containers to meet your needs.

• iRecycle Kits
  Each iRecycle kit includes everything you need to recycle your batteries and handheld electronics. You simply collect the batteries and send them to us. We do the rest!
• SmartRecycle System
  Our auto-renew program, SmartRecycle System, is available by calling or emailing us. Once you ship a full container to us, we will automatically ship you an empty one.
• Collection Tubes
  Do you have customers dropping off batteries to you? We offer collection tubes that pair with our kits and systems.

Bulk Collection – For Larger or Reoccurring Volumes

If you have a full truckload (FTL) or less than a truckload (LTL) to recycle, we have representatives to provide you with a quote. This includes the recycling and logistics to get your batteries to our Howell, MI or Mesa, AZ facility. We will sort your batteries by chemistry and then recycle them.This service comes with a Confirmation of Reclamation (COR) certificate stating what types of batteries and volumes you have and proves that each is properly recycled in a compliant manner.

Process

Meticulous sorting is done for quality assurance and safety reasons. Sorting by chemistry ensures the quality of the recycled materials that come from processing the batteries. For example, it is hazardous if a mercury containing battery is mixed in and recycled with alkaline batteries, since all the recycled materials are reused in the manufacturing sector. Regarding safety, mixing a lithium battery in with a batch of alkaline will cause a fire, since different battery chemistries are processed by different methods. This is why each of our sorters is rigorously trained, through Battery School, prior to graduating to an autonomous sorting.

Technology

In addition to our team of sorters, we are the first – and only – North American based company using automated battery sorting and data collection technology. This technology allows us to sort batteries intelligently, based on any criteria we select (chemistry, brand, commercial demand). While sorting, massive amounts of data about those batteries are collected and stored. Due to the cost, this type of intelligent sorting was previously unachievable by manual methods.

How are Batteries Recycled?

Lead Acid

The battery is broken apart in a hammer mill, a machine that hammers the battery into pieces. The broken battery pieces are then placed into a vat, where the lead and heavy materials fall to the bottom and the plastic floats. At this point, the polypropylene pieces are scooped away and the liquids are drawn off, leaving the lead and heavy metals. Each of the materials goes into a different recycling “stream”.
Plastic
Polypropylene pieces are washed, blown dry and sent to a plastic recycler where the pieces are melted together into an almost liquid state. The molten plastic is put through an extruder that produces small plastic pellets of a uniform size. The pellets are put back into manufacturing battery cases and the process begins again.
Lead
Lead grids, lead oxide and other lead parts are cleaned and heated within smelting furnaces. The molten melted lead is then poured into ingot molds. After a few minutes, the impurities float to the top of the still molten lead in the ingot molds. These impurities are scraped away and the ingots are left to cool. When the ingots are cool, they’re removed from the molds and sent to battery manufacturers, where they’re re-melted and used in the production of new batteries.
Sulfuric Acid
Old battery acid can be handled in two ways: 1. The acid is neutralized with an industrial compound similar to household baking soda. Neutralization turns the acid into water. The water is then treated, cleaned, tested in a waste water treatment plant to be sure it meets clean water standards. 2. The acid is processed and converted to sodium sulfate, an odorless white powder that’s used in laundry detergent, glass and textile manufacturing.
Lead acid batteries are closed-loop recycled, meaning each part the the old batteries is recycled into a new battery. It is estimated that 98% of all lead acid batteries are recycled.

Where to Recycle

We work with many corporations that offer battery recycling to their employees and customers, universities that offer battery recycling to their students and employees. We also work with municipalities as they collect batteries for recycling instead of having the community dispose of batteries in the landfill.

If you would like to see battery recycling available at your school, office, local grocery stores or municipality, contact us and we will reach out to them.