this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
549 points (98.4% liked)

Technology

59385 readers
932 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

A clever graduate has used 80 discarded vape batteries to power his e-scooter—and to make a point about waste.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Uprise42@artemis.camp 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is there anything we can do with lithium to return it to its unused state? Can it be chemically refined back to its original state or does the electrical usage permanently alter it?

[–] ratman150@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

They are in fact very recyclable but these vapes are sold as disposable.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

I've always preferred reusable batteries. sure you still dispose of the carts but at least you get to use the battery again. I kinda want a dab thing that does on a vape battery so you can scrape wax into it and vape it on the go

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can still break down the vape and take the battery out of it to be recycled. Problem is that people just trash them instead of tossing it with electronics recycling (if that's even considered cool). Maybe as we see battery recycling we will see people scrounging for these to turn in same as aluminum and glass bottles/cans.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem is these vapes are usually made really difficult to crack open. A lot of vape stores around me are taking them back now to recycle for you but still.

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 year ago

Huh? A hammer will take care of that easy peasy. Good chance someone will figure out a way for a machine to break them open and sort out the battery from the rest or just have people smacking them with hammers or mallets.

[–] Uprise42@artemis.camp 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, which is wrong. My question was more about lithium batteries in general, not these specific batteries.

Personally I think we need to hold waste management companies more accountable. I feel like there should be sorting done to some degree to filter out compostable waste, recyclable materials, and true waste. That way we can still have a sustainable planet even when individuals do not have a sustainable mindset

[–] 6fn@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wouldn't call it the unused state, but when recycled in a proper facility, the material recovered from lithium ion batteries can be used again in future battery production. Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ&t=270s

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ&

https://piped.video/watch?v=s2xrarUWVRQ&

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] Uprise42@artemis.camp 1 points 1 year ago

That’s what I was curious about. We have an EV and one of the biggest things is the lithium mining for the batteries being awful for the environment and awful treatment of workers. With EV’s becoming more popular and other types of batteries using lithium then I think lithium recycling is going to be very important to the future and was wondering if anything had been established. Even a close to unused state allowing it to be put back into an EV for 95% capacity is better than just throwing it away.

I will definitely check out the video though