WasteCare installs battery sorting system

WasteCare, co-owner of BatteryBack, which is one of the United Kingdom’s largest compliance schemes for household batteries, is partnering with Refind Technologies to install an automatic system for sorting discarded batteries. The system will allow WasteCare to sort more than 3,000 metric tons of batteries per year, of which 2,400 metric tons will be sorted automatically.

The installation will be made at a new facility in Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Battery packs, cell phone batteries and button cells will be removed mechanically and sorted by hand while all cylindrical and 9-volt batteries will be fully sorted automatically.

The system from Refind has a capacity of 600 to 900 kilograms (1,300 to 2,000 pounds) per hour, according to Refind. Batteries are recognized by visual characteristics and are then separated by air ejectors with a speed of more than 10 batteries per second, the company says.

Refind Technologies, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, provides identification and sorting systems to the recycling and reverse logistics industry. Refind says its systems allow individual products such as batteries, cell phones or other electronics to be recognized and sorted in preparation for recycling, or if possible, reuse or repair.

The system at WasteCare will be its third system in the U.K., Refind says.