What do you do with a swollen or damaged lithium battery at your company?

Switch a swollen or damaged lithium battery off, keep people away and move it only if that is safe. Store it apart in a fire-resistant container and have a specialist such as YouPower Recycling, our Battery Disassembly Center, collect it quickly. Our page on the recycling of damaged lithium-ion batteries shows how intake, screening and disassembly run.

It usually starts small: a forklift battery knocked by the forks, or a UPS pack too hot to touch. A storage module bulges, or an e-bike battery smells odd in the bike shed. Then someone asks: do we grab it, throw sand on it, or which extinguisher do we use?

How do you know a lithium battery is damaged?

A lithium battery is damaged when it changes shape, gets hot, leaks, smokes, hisses or smells. OVAM counts a battery with any of these signs as damaged or defective, even if it still works.

Sources: OVAM (defective or damaged lithium batteries) and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (signs of a damaged battery).

Most companies see the incident, not the days after it. A damaged battery can heat up and catch fire hours or days later, in the corner where someone parked it. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service warns that it can overheat without warning.

Why does a battery swell? Overheated cells produce gas, and its pressure makes the battery swell, Bebat explains. The gas is flammable and unhealthy, so never prick a swollen battery to release it.

LFP or NMC makes no difference: a damaged battery is treated as damaged. Our article on LFP, NMC or sodium-ion for a business battery explains the chemistry.

What should you do in the first hour with a swollen or burnt battery?

First people, then the battery. Smoke or flames mean a fire has already started: get out, stay out and call 112. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service advises not to fight it yourself.

The procedure matters more than the battery: the courier and the recycling park refuse it, and your insurer will later ask what you did. No smoke and no fire? Work through these steps calmly.

1. Step 1: Stop. Switch the device or system off, stop charging and keep people at a distance.
2. Step 2: Disconnect, only if it is safe. A qualified electrician disconnects a storage system, UPS string or forklift battery, never by pulling cables.
3. Step 3: Isolate. Tape the terminals of a small loose battery against short circuits. Move a battery only when it is cool enough and nobody takes a risk.
4. Step 4: Place it apart. Outdoors or in a separate room with an outside door, in a fire-resistant container, away from anything that burns.
5. Step 5: Record it. Photos, type, brand, weight and what happened: the collector, your prevention adviser and your insurer will ask.
6. Step 6: Call a specialist for collection. The shorter the battery stays on site, the smaller the risk.

How does a company store a damaged lithium battery until it is collected?

Store a damaged lithium battery apart, in a fire-resistant container, in a dry, cool and ventilated place, for as short a time as possible. OVAM, the Flemish waste agency, sets out the precautions in its guidance on waste lithium batteries.

The rules for waste batteries come from the EU Battery Regulation (Annex XII) and, in Flanders, from VLAREMA and VLAREM. The core: protection against heat, water and physical damage, the normal installation position, good ventilation and a warning sign. Damaged batteries need more: OVAM advises a separate, specific storage area with extra precautions.

Source: OVAM, safety and precautionary measures for storing waste lithium batteries (June 2025). The measures are chosen with the fire service or an independent expert, per activity.

For damaged batteries, OVAM points to ADR packing instruction P908. Each battery is packed on its own in an inner packaging inside an outer one, surrounded by non-combustible, non-conductive insulation. A leaking battery gets enough inert absorbent to soak up the electrolyte.

Ideally you store it in that transport packaging, ready to leave. For batteries that are still installed and working, other rules apply: see our article on fire safety, permits and insurance for a business battery.

Can you transport a damaged lithium battery yourself?

No, not as ordinary goods. A damaged or defective lithium battery falls under ADR special provision 376, with stricter packaging and marking on both the package and the transport documents.

ADR is the European agreement on the carriage of dangerous goods by road. It sorts lithium batteries on their way to recycling into three cases.

Sources: LION.Care summary of the ADR special provisions; OVAM on P908.

Damaged in the ADR sense are, for example, leaking or venting cells, mechanically damaged cells, and cells that can no longer be diagnosed. So a swollen forklift battery or a burnt storage module never goes in a parcel service or a company van without the right packaging. A collector who works under ADR brings the approved container.

Who collects a damaged lithium battery from a company in Belgium?

It depends on the size of the battery and on who put it on the market. Small loose batteries go to a Bebat collection point; large ones go back through the producer, a registered collector or a specialised recycler.

• Small batteries (tools, laptops, phones): tape the contacts and pack each swollen battery in its own clear plastic bag. Bebat then advises bringing it to the recycling park quickly.
• Forklift, UPS and storage batteries: back through the brand's take-back scheme or a specialised lithium recycler. Storage batteries are not accepted at the recycling park.
• Batteries from electric vehicles: Febelauto manages producer responsibility for EV batteries in Belgium; Bebat covers all other categories, according to SPW Environnement.
• Brussels: Bruxelles Environnement treats all batteries as hazardous waste that must be sorted and collected separately.

Whichever route you use, keep the paper. Bebat reminds companies that they must be able to show a proof of handover to a recognised collector. For a damaged battery, add your photos and notes from the first hour.

Disposal duties, free take-back and routes per battery type: read our article on what a company must do with old lithium batteries. Does a UPS keep cooking its batteries? Then read our comparison of many small UPS units or one central battery.

What should your prevention adviser and insurer know?

They should know the plan before the incident, not after it. OVAM advises everyone who stores or handles waste lithium batteries to draw up a plan with a risk analysis and an emergency procedure.

• Risk analysis and emergency plan: which organisational and technical measures you take during an accident, in line with the Belgian code on well-being at work.
• Training: who may handle damaged batteries, and which training each person needs.
• Review: at every change in activities or staff, and at least once every three years, according to OVAM.
• Fire service: in Flanders, VLAREM asks operators to organise firefighting and detection in consultation with the competent fire service.
• Insurer: report an incident quickly, share your photos and the proof of handover, and check what your fire policy says about battery storage.

What happens when you contact YouPower Recycling about a damaged battery?

We start with the battery and its state, not with a price list.

1. Step 1: You tell us what you have. Type, brand, number, weight, what happened and where the battery is now. Photos help.
2. Step 2: We tell you how to keep it safe until it leaves your site.
3. Step 3: Intake at the Battery Disassembly Center. We determine the type and features of the battery, assess its condition and check how far the cells are damaged. If necessary, we take additional safety measures.
4. Step 4: Screening and safe disassembly by specialists, then shredding into copper, aluminium, heavy carbon and black mass.