Disposal of DIY packs in USA

[srk]

The time has finally come and I have decommissioned my DIY 14s80p storage. It lasted a long time and I got great use out of it but I have moved on to the server rack style 5.12kwh units.

Has anyone had success in recycling their DIY packs? I have 12 80p to get rid of and all the local recycling places require each 18650 to be placed 1 per bag which is super time consuming and seems like a waste of bags.

Any ideas where I can take these to get rid of them? I pulled the bus bars and they are sitting in the carriers.

 

[Korishan]

Best to contact your local recycling center(s) and see what they have for recycling lithium.
Another place is to dispose of them into the Lowe's and Home Depot and similar stores that accept battery recycling. I think even WallyWorld does it now.

A lot of places basically say to make sure they are fully discharged. A good way to do this is to fully discharge the cells by using a resistor, like 1W.
To do massive discharge, wire a parallel group to automotive lights for about a day after the light goes out. Then when taking the cells apart tape a wire to make contact between the positive and negative ends and wrap the whole thing from end to end with electrical tape to make sure the wire stays put and can't accidentally make contact with some other metal bits.