Bettery.com

Towards revalorisation of batteries from medical devices

With Bettery.com, Wase Werkplaats vzw and its partners want to give batteries from medical devices a second life with the aim of developing universal, connectable and repairable battery types. This project offers a solution to the waste problem and creates new jobs in the social economy.

Battery production requires a lot of raw materials and energy, while CO2 emissions are significant. At the end of their life, many batteries still end up in incinerators or landfills. While there are recycling programmes that reprocess important substances, the batteries themselves often do not get a second life.

More and more medical devices run on batteries to make them portable and facilitate flexible use. While the batteries from these devices are often recycled, they still have the potential to be reused. At the same time, there is a need for universal types of recoverable batteries that can be used and coupled in different ways.

Therefore, Bettery.com is looking for solutions to dismantle the medical devices and give the batteries a second life. To this end, the project calls on social employment. Using circular solutions extends the life of the batteries and the devices they are in. Moreover, reusing batteries is economically more advantageous.

To facilitate access to reusable batteries, models such as batteries-as-a-service and local reuse programmes can offer a solution. If the project is scaled up, batteries from other sectors can also be made reusable.