Battery recycling

What happens to old batteries?

As a motoring club we spend a lot of our time attending to batteries, but we don’t stop at jump starts and installing replacements. Our roadside patrols recycle over 90% of returned batteries each year. Old car, motorcycle, caravan, truck and marine batteries are sent to a specialist lead-acid battery recycling facility where the components can be broken down and repurposed.

Safe disposal

Battery recycling is important to safeguard against the negative environmental impacts of incorrect battery storage and disposal. Typical lead-acid batteries that are left in storage or dumped in with general rubbish will corrode over time and start leaking highly toxic fluid. This wastes valuable materials that could’ve been safely recycled, and pollutes our environment with hazardous chemicals.

How does recycling work?

Every year, we send thousands of returned batteries to a specialist lead-acid battery recycling facility where they can be safely broken down and processed. Almost all components of a lead-acid battery can be converted or reused. Lead in the batteries is melted down and used to make new car batteries. The acid component of the battery, sulfuric acid, gets converted to sodium sulfate, commonly used in detergent and liquid fertiliser. The plastic casing of the batteries is also melted down to be recycled as battery casings or other consumer goods.

All our roadside patrols remove and recycle used batteries for free when you purchase a battery from us.