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Forum Index : Other Stuff : Recycle those batteries
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I've had a few old lead acid batteries lying around, so decided to take them to the local scrap metal recycling business. There were half a dozen car batteries, 3 big truck batteries and 4 220Ah 6v deep cycle batteries. First I put the better looking ones on a charger for a few hours to see if there was any life in them for light duty jobs, such as the electric fence. One tested OK, the others were junk. I loaded up the trailer and took them to the recycling business in town, about 30km away. All up there was just over 400kg! I thought the trailer felt heavy during the drive into town. The current rate on the day was 84c per kg, and I was handed $344  The 200Ah deep cycle batteries weigh about 35kg each, so their scrap metal value is about $30 each, or about 16% of their price brand new. Something to consider next time you battery bank is due for replacement. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Georgen Guru  Joined: 13/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 462 |
16% cost recovery sounds OK but bit disappointing. Pity that all batteries cannot be saved for light duties. I have car battery with one dead cell and with only 10.6V it happily lights up 12V LED globe. Pretty sure that one day it will stop working, or another battery from car will need replacement, so this one will have to go. Usually I live them in shop as $10 price reduction for new battery. George |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
If you can determine which cell is dead (hydrometer) you can often cut away the case top over it and bridge the busbars (after determining that the cell is indeed fully dead!) Often the other cells are quite healthy and the battery can be used for years in that state (I had one in a shed with a small solar panel and a pair of led auto lights for illumination at night. I put that battery into use back in the mid 00's and its still going strong I have seen people actually making battery banks out of batterys with dead cells (personally thats why I like house banks with separate 2v cells for l/a, if one dies it can be swapped out) |
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Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1057 |
Hi Gizmo. Is that the scrap metal place in Boundary Rd? ChopperP |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yes thats them, Action Metal Recyclers. There are a few other places, but only a couple open on a Saturday. Both offered similar prices. I'll try the other place next time. They were friendly, did all the heavy lifting for me and I was pretty happy with the service. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1057 |
Thanks Glenn. Took some scrap iron to them a few years ago. Got 10c/Kg I think. ChopperP |
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Ralph2k6 Senior Member  Joined: 24/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 129 |
Good heads up Glenn. I've just finished stripping about 40kg of AL cable, and I have 24 2v 400Ah old fork batts that were tired before I got them to be neglected here at home for a year now.. I think there is a branch of AMR not too far away in Kingston. Looks like I might be going in today, gotta let go of these old batteries. Ralph |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah there's actually good money in taking your old batteries to be recycled. I've seen places where a pile of batteries has been sitting for years, because the owner didn't have time or know how to dispose of them. At 85c a kg, its even worth taking in a single car battery, buy lunch with the money  Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| George65 Guru Joined: 18/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 308 |
About 6 years ago a client of mine was working as a maintenance guy at a marina. He knew I liked playing with generators etc so rang me to say there were some big batteries at the place that needed to be cleaned up and he thought some might be good If I wanted them. Place was on the other side of Sydney but not wanting to possibly offend, I said sure and went to pick them up thinking with a bit of luck they might be OK for scrap if no good. They were all N200's from cruisers. I felled the trailer with them which would have been an overload but anyway. Got them home and 8 of them were good straight off. The rest were buggered. Kept 2 of the good ones, gave to to a mate and sold the rest on gumtree and to the scrap Joint. $993 all up for that 3 hours out and back. Wish I could do that every afternoon. Later found out a lot of these people with boats just change the batteries every 12 months as a matter of course. Had the ones I kept for about 3 years before they died, mates lasted longer. Gave them back to me when they did die and I goat almost $50 for those as well. Last year I had a heap of old car batteries I had amassed from different sources, mainly friends giving them to me to get rid of, which I had down the side of my driveway along with some other scrap to go. Was sitting inside one day and heard some noises. Thought my wife had come home early from work one day and went out to see why. Found these 2 Mongeral loading up the batteries into their van. Of course the usual excuses about getting the wrong address thinking they were at a friends house. I said if it was a friends house you'd know where they live. One thought he might push his luck and try a stand over tactic but I was not about to be intimidated by lowdown scum thieves. They got the message. They unloaded the van and then as they were about to leave threatened to come back and get me. I said thanks for the heads up, I'll tell the cops where to come and pointed to the sign writing on the side of the vehicle. As well as filth they were typically stupid as well. Pretty bad when people are coming into your place to steal old batteries. |
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Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1022 |
I have often looked for a reasonable scrap price for FLA batteries, prices vary quite a bit, some will offer price per KG others Per battery, the per battery price is not so good when you have some heavy weight deep cycle cells to get rid of. Been watching This one to see the market price change, just to get some indication of best time to sell. might be best, to just pester the local scrap yard again, A large quantity should get there interest I would think. Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
I went to the scrapyard today to drop off some steel Frames I bought home a while back and shouldn't have. Very disappointing Trip. They had nothing there I wanted. Came home empty. Might cruise past before I load up next time to make sure they have some goodies. :0) I remember cashing in some batteries around the time of the China Olympics. Made a lot of money out of some scrap batteries. Seemed everything scrap was worth a fortune then. They were paying around $200 Ton for steel. Not long after it was down to $20 a ton. The one thing that seems to stay up there is copper. Always worth a fortune. |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
Many years ago I remember some dairy farmers went to milk their cows at 5am, and discovered they had no power; after investigations by local power Co. seems a few Kms of 11Kv high voltage feeder had vanished in the night; no doubt chopped up and copper sold to local scrap dealer.... We only get approx $1-20/kg for scrap lead here in NZ, $5 to 7 for clean copper. Mike |
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| Davo99 Guru Joined: 03/06/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1578 |
I have read many times of power lines being stolen for copper, even in the US. It is very prevalent in many poorer countries apparently. Sometimes they are able to catch the would be thieves purely by accident. Apparently they tend to be a bit Crisp, black and dead from accidentality touching the wrong live power line. You'd have to be beyond brave well into the moronically stupid category to even think about stealing live High voltage cable but I guess some people REALLY want that Darwin award real bad...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOHFyZh28W8 |
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| noneyabussiness Guru Joined: 31/07/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Desperation makes people do strange things... I think it works !! |
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| Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1022 |
After contacting a few scrap yards, I still have the old FLA batteries sitting here, Sent photos to some and asked if the could collect them.....NO REPLY. Asked others without sending pictures, just a description of the batteries in the hope of getting a reasonably price and if they could come and collect them. Some reply's they Didn't really want them, others did not want to collect them, you would have to bring them in yourself, that would be a lot of trips to the not so local scrap yard, and they can refuse them if they don't like them. Whats the reason for all this? Environmental protection agency? apparently lead acid batteries are considered dangerous goods, I have heard of this years ago but never took much notice, had a friend get pulled up once and questioned about carting a quantity of batteries. Supposed to comply with the dangerous goods transportation.....whatever that is, I couldn't be bother looking at all that, was getting rather annoyed and that wouldn't help. In the case of an accident during transport, the acid from a large quantity of FLA batteries could get into the environment, Bloody slim chance if you ask me. Seems so ridicules Doesn't it?.....Ridicules it the normal thing now. I doubt many scrap yard would go to the trouble of certification for this, they probably get some specialised company to picked the batteries up from there yard after they have been packed in accordance with the rules. The batteries I wanted to get rid of where all dry and wouldn't be an issue, try convincing an authority of that if you get pulled up. Sure the lead could be melted and formed into home made batteries, had thought of doing this years ago, but they also stopped the sale of acid for these batteries. At the moment there are more cameras checking vehicles and loads and many other things, revenue. If the scrap yards don't want to transport them It make me wonder how big the fine could be. Not sure if this is different in other places. There's is a few ways to get around this if you think about it, best to cover them up disguise them a bit. I haven't given up yet, the value is still there but perhaps not in it current form. Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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