E-bike and e-scooter battery disposal

Last verified 2026-09-30

There are three answers for an e-bike or e-scooter battery. Which one applies comes down to two questions: can you take the battery out, and how much does it weigh?

If the pack comes off and it’s under 5 kg

It goes to a B-cycle drop-off point. Use the drop-off finder and turn on the E-Bike & E-Scooter batteries < 5kg filter to see the points that take them. B-cycle’s published scope names e-micromobility batteries from e-bikes and e-scooters specifically.

Before you go: tape over every exposed metal contact with clear sticky tape, carry it on its own rather than in a bag with anything metal, and ring ahead if you’re bringing more than about a kilogram. B-cycle asks for that call at 1 kg and caps a single drop-off at 5 kg.

If the pack comes off and it’s heavier than 5 kg

B-cycle’s drop-off limit is 5 kg, so a heavier pack goes to the council network instead.

In NSW, take it to a Community Recycling Centre or a Household Chemical CleanOut event. The NSW EPA names removable e-scooter and e-bike batteries in its 5–20 kg tier. Community Recycling Centres are free for householders, and there are more than 100 of them. Apart from Leichhardt and Cumberland, you don’t have to be a local resident to use one. Only household quantities are accepted (as a guide, up to 20 litres or 20 kilograms for each waste type), and businesses aren’t eligible.

Find your nearest centre or CleanOut event.

If the battery is sealed into the device

If the battery can’t be taken out, the whole vehicle is what gets recycled.

The NSW EPA, in partnership with local councils, accepts products with embedded batteries at selected Community Recycling Centres. When we last checked there were 34 of them. E-scooters, e-bikes and hoverboards are named on the list of accepted items.

Two things to know before you go:

• Items over 20 kg aren’t accepted, except e-bikes where the battery can’t be removed. The EPA asks you to check with your council before taking anything over 20 kg, anything bulky, or anything that needs more than one person to handle.
• If the battery can be taken out easily, take it out and bring just the battery. The EPA asks for this specifically, and it puts you back in one of the two sections above.

If it’s swollen, damaged, or has been in water

Stop, and don’t take it anywhere yet. NSW Government guidance is to stop using a battery immediately if it shows swelling or bulging, leaking, cracks, dents, punctures or crushing, overheating, or vapour or smoke, or if it has been through water or a fire.

A damaged pack doesn’t go into a collection bin with other batteries, and it isn’t a normal drop-off. Handling and disposing of one is its own subject.

Why any of this is worth the trip

Fire and Rescue NSW responded to more than 280 incidents caused by lithium-ion batteries in NSW during 2025, according to the EPA’s November 2025 campaign release. Across the country, the waste industry reports an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 battery-related fires a year. The EPA warns that batteries in household bins may catch fire in garbage trucks and waste facilities.

If you’re replacing the battery, not just getting rid of it

One thing has changed recently, and it matters before you buy. In NSW, e-micromobility devices and their lithium-ion batteries and chargers are now declared electrical articles. Since 1 February 2026, each of them has to be tested, certified and marked before it can be sold, and the approval mark has to be on the product itself, and in the listing if you’re buying online. Penalties for suppliers run to $825,000.

NSW publishes a register of certified e-micromobility products you can check a model against. The NSW Government’s general advice is to buy a battery recommended by the vehicle’s manufacturer, and to look for an approval mark on the vehicle, the battery and the charger. That’s three separate marks, because they’re three separate approvals.