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Take caution when disposing of rechargeable batteries

Recently, heavy equipment ruptured rechargable batteries that became spontaneously combustible and started a small spot fire at the Material Recycling Facility at Technical Area 60. Rechargeable batteries should not be thrown out with ordinary garbage. These batteries represent a serious safety concern for workers and a compliance issue for the Laboratory.

Employees should use discretion when preparing to dispose of any type of battery at the Laboratory, said Tony Stanford, Facilities and Waste Operations (FWO) Division leader. Alkaline batteries that have no radioactive or chemical contamination can be placed directly in the trash.

Any rechargeable batteries such as nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydride, lithium-ion, lithium-hydride and mercury batteries must be treated differently than normal office trash and should be considered universal waste. Universal waste is a special category for items that should not go to the landfill such as fluorescent light bulbs, mercury switches and rechargeable batteries, said Stanford.

Employees who need to dispose of rechargeable batteries should contact their waste coordinators, or send a request to wastenot@lanl.gov by electronic mail.

Waste coordinators will then ensure that the batteries are disposed of properly.

All battery cells must be unbroken.

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