Disposing of bulged Li-ion battery

[ivan747]

Hi, I have bulged (inflated) Li-ion battery from a cell phone at home that I need to get rid of, and safely. I haven't heard of any centers in this country that properly dispose of e-waste like this, so I'd appreciate your suggestions. It is quite bulged.

Best regards,
Ivan

[IanB]

There's nothing particularly hazardous inside. You could put it in a bucket of salt water for a day or two to discharge it and make sure it has no energy left, then put it in the regular trash.

[TerraHertz]

Or, you charge it up fully, stab it with a knife just for fun (somewhere outside), and after it stops erupting and has cooled down THEN put it in the trash.

The whole 'recycle batteries properly' thing comes from lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries, that definitely should never end up in landfill, due to the toxic heavy metals. Lead is poisonous, and cadmium is very poisonous. Lithium and copper, not really.

Though, I wouldn't want to breathe the smoke from a Li-Ion battery on fire.

[MarkS]

Light up the grill and toss it in. Make sure to post the video here.

[ivan747]

There's nothing particularly hazardous inside. You could put it in a bucket of salt water for a day or two to discharge it and make sure it has no energy left, then put it in the regular trash.

Will a very slow, controlled discharge work? Like a 5k resistor or something?

I also like to see things explode, just not inside my property!!! The grill idea is a good one for isolating any fires.

[SeanB]

Outdoors just slit the outer plastic and leave it on a brick overnight, and in the morning you can see that all the solvent has evaporated and then place it in a plastic bag and drop in the weekly garbage or place in the nearest ewaste bin, depending on where you are and if there is electronic recycling around.