Responsible Recycling

Battery Recycling and Safe Storage

Batteries are an essential part of the TV/film industry, including everything from the rechargeable ones that power cameras to disposables used for lapel microphones. We need to know both the best ways to store and cycle our rechargeable batteries between use and how to dispose of all batteries safely once they reach their end of life. Batteries contain a variety of potentially dangerous metals and chemicals, so must be disposed of properly; many of the materials can be reused.

Domestic Batteries

Domestic single-use batteries are very easy to recycle as any business that sells more than 32kg of batteries per year is legally required to have a recycling collection point in store, see gov.uk and valpak.co.uk.

These collection points may also take other commonly used rechargeable batteries, such as those used in mobile phone and laptops.

Car batteries

Car batteries can be disposed of at garages, scrap metal facilities and household waste recycling centres.

For more information on where to recyle a particular item, see recycle-more.co.uk or recyclenow.com to find your nearest locations.

Recelling Your Batteries

Some of the camera battery manufacturers distributing in the UK offer discounts for trade-ins or enable you to recell their batteries, which can be a cheaper option than buying brand new batteries. Manufacturers do not recommend recelling Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries though, because this can compromise their integrity and safety during flight. The following table lists all the schemes of which we are aware.

Manufacturer	Recelling Scheme	Batteries Recycled by the Company	Trade-in Scheme	Recycling Collection on Delivery of New Batteries
Core SWX	No	No	Yes, contact the dealer Holdan	N/A
Hawk-Woods	Yes, for Ni-Cad and Ni-Mh a saving of up to 50% compared to buying new batteries.	Yes	Yes, contact Hawk-Woods	Yes, contact Hawk-Woods or the dealer you are buying from.
IDX	No	Yes	Yes, contact your dealer directly	Yes, batteries can be returned directly to IDX or via dealers.
PAG	No, except for the new Mini PAGlink batteries.	Yes	Yes	Yes
SWIT	No	Yes	N/A	N/A

If you are a battery manufacturer and would like your scheme to be added, please get in touch.

Extending a battery's life and battery storage

To extend the life of a Li-Ion battery (i.e. provide more cycles), it’s generally recommended only to charge the battery to 80% capacity or not to fully discharge it during use.

For long-term storage there are some general principles:

Never store batteries fully discharged or under 10% overall charge as it can be difficult to recover them.
Never store batteries in a fully charged state as this can reduce their overall life.
Leave the battery disconnected from the charger and any equipment.
Store batteries at around room temperature or between 10–20 degrees Celsius.

For manufacturer-specific guidance please see below or check the user guide for your battery.

Core SWX

The best practice for a Li-Ion cell is to use it. When that's not possible, then it's best to charge or discharge a Core SWX battery to 70% and leave it off the charger – but don't allow the battery to fall below 10%.

Then charge back up to 70%. Core SWX batteries have a Sleep Mode (sort of the same principle as your mobile phone). If your battery is at 70% and then goes to sleep, it will take 3 months or longer for it to self-discharge.

Hawk-Woods

Store batteries in a cool, dry room. Ideally, if you have contact block covers to put on the battery, this will help protect them. Do not leave the battery connected to its mating equipment and do not leave on charge for weeks on end.

For long-term storage (months) you should store the battery with some charge – around 25–35% is recommended. This can sometimes be tricky to achieve unless you have a discharger that removes capacity to this level. If you plan to leave your batteries for longer than 6 months, Hawk-Woods recommends revisiting them and providing a charge, once again with partial discharge to around 25–35%. Leaving them fully charged for long periods of time (2+ months) is to be avoided.

IDX

The IDX website, idx-europe.co.uk, is a good source of information for its range of batteries. The resources there give parameters for maximum discharge currents and the operating temperatures which will not impact battery life.

IDX offers a ‘Life Plus Mode’ on its latest sophisticated charger, the VL2000S. When this option is switched on, it uses a different charging algorithm which finishes the charging process early, enabling batteries to be available for use more quickly and increasing the number of possible battery cycles by as much as 20%.

For recycling see idx-europe.co.uk

PAG

Batteries naturally self-discharge over time. If their state of charge is less than 10% before an extended period of inactivity, they can become difficult to recover. It is also undesirable for batteries to be 100% charged for storage, as this can damage the cells and lead to a shorter overall life.

PAG recommends charging your Li-Ion batteries to 50% (anywhere between 20% and 80% is desirable) prior to long-term storage of more than 2 weeks. PAGlink batteries should also be in an unlinked state during this period. The best temperature at which to store batteries is between 10–20 degrees Celsius.

Disclaimer

All information is correct at the time of writing (11 June 2020). It is up to manufacturers to advise us of any changes to their schemes and if you have any doubt about your batteries, please contact the manufacturer directly.