Why sort batteries at all?
Because different types of batteries are made from different materials, they can't all be recycled in the same way. They need to be sorted first. Which is why our work at Sortbat is so important. Samples show that in recent years, we have sorted 99.5% of batteries correctly: a European record.
Arrival at Tienen
Wherever you drop off your batteries - at the supermarket in Knokke, at the DIY store in Namur or at your local recycling centre in Brussels - they all make their way to Tienen. They arrive in drums weighing around 60 kg each.
Manual sorting
When the barrels arrive at Sortbat, a crane empties them into a large container. Here a belt conveys the batteries to a manual pre-sorting. Along this conveyor belt, staff remove large packs such as batteries from computers, power tools, etc. from the flow. Those packs are neatly sorted into 4 groups based on their composition: rechargeable lithium, alkaline, lead and nickel cadmium.
After the pre-sorting, the batteries thunder down the conveyor belt for the next stage of manual sorting. A laser counts the number of batteries racing past, so that the conveyor belt can maintain a pace that is efficient for our employees.
It's at this stage that eagle eyed staff members remove any remaining objects like plastic, ink cartridges.
Here they cut open the well-known Bebat bags and store them separately for the monthly tombola.
They take small packs (Nickel cadmium (NiCd), Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and rechargeable lithium) off the conveyor belt. At this stage our staff removes any foreign objects from the belt.
Magnetic sorting
All batteries that are still on the belt will end up at the magnetic sorting station. Batteries with a non-magnetic casing such as some zinc batteries and some button cells end up in a separate box as they probably contain heavy metals.
Mechanical sorting
All magnetic batteries, which is by far the largest portion, now get to the mechanical sorting. The batteries are chased at breakneck speed by a vibrating sieve and sorted according to shape and size: button cell batteries, 9 volt batteries, 4.5 volt batteries, AA and AAA batteries, C and D batteries.
Button cell batteries
9 volt batteries
4.5 volt batteries
AA and AAA batteries
C and D batteries
Electronic sorting
Finally, all cylindrical batteries go through a high-tech machine for a round of electronic sorting. Based on their measurements, weight and magnetic resonance, the machine detects the chemical composition of each battery. In all we sort the batteries into eight possible fractions which will be sent to the right recycler.
Manual sorting
When the barrels arrive at Sortbat, a crane empties them into a large container. Here a belt conveys the batteries to a manual pre-sorting. Along this conveyor belt, staff remove large packs such as batteries from computers, power tools, etc. from the flow. Those packs are neatly sorted into 4 groups based on their composition: rechargeable lithium, alkaline, lead and nickel cadmium.
After the pre-sorting, the batteries thunder down the conveyor belt for the next stage of manual sorting. A laser counts the number of batteries racing past, so that the conveyor belt can maintain a pace that is efficient for our employees.
It's at this stage that eagle eyed staff members remove any remaining objects like plastic, ink cartridges.
Here they cut open the well-known Bebat bags and store them separately for the monthly tombola.
They take small packs (Nickel cadmium (NiCd), Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and rechargeable lithium) off the conveyor belt. At this stage our staff removes any foreign objects from the belt.
Magnetic sorting
All batteries that are still on the belt will end up at the magnetic sorting station. Batteries with a non-magnetic casing such as some zinc batteries and some button cells end up in a separate box as they probably contain heavy metals.
Mechanical sorting
All magnetic batteries, which is by far the largest portion, now get to the mechanical sorting. The batteries are chased at breakneck speed by a vibrating sieve and sorted according to shape and size: button cell batteries, 9 volt batteries, 4.5 volt batteries, AA and AAA batteries, C and D batteries.
Button cell batteries
9 volt batteries
4.5 volt batteries
AA and AAA batteries
C and D batteries
Electronic sorting
Finally, all cylindrical batteries go through a high-tech machine for a round of electronic sorting. Based on their measurements, weight and magnetic resonance, the machine detects the chemical composition of each battery. In all we sort the batteries into eight possible fractions which will be sent to the right recycler.
