When a battery or battery pack enters the Dutch market, producers and importers are legally obliged to take back and recycle "their" batteries and accumulators at the end of their useful life. The Stibat Services Foundation carries out the legal duties for both the EPAC Foundation and the Batteries Foundation when it comes to product responsibility.

Stichting Stibat Services' annual report showed that the collection of bicycle batteries increased by over 6%. At the same time, the report also shows that the weight of bicycle batteries placed on the market in 2020 increased from 1.63 million kilograms to 1.90 million kilograms. Stibat Foundation knows how to explain this increase. "Because electric bicycles and E-bikes have become wildly popular in recent years, this led to more demand, which led to more production and, as a result, a hugely wide range of battery types with a longer lifespan have now appeared on the market," said the director of Stibat Services. After all, e-bikes have one thing in common: a battery. Because the battery cells in the battery have more power, the weight of battery packs in the bike automatically increases with it. Thus, there are more and more new batteries on the market, and although the lifespan of these batteries is increasing, so is the amount of e-waste.

Every year the amount of e-waste increases with 20%. The Stibat Services Foundation wants to help towards new solutions and offer services that contribute to the proper disposal of used batteries and accumulators. Requirements and laws surrounding this process can be challenging for producers and importers to meet. Batteries and accumulators are collected, but there is no system in place to recycle them fully. Therefore, they often still end up in landfills where they are later burned or shredded.

Not evolution but revolution

Refurb Battery is one of the first to work together with the Stibat Foundation to recycle and reuse used these e-bike batteries. Because what if... we could give battery cells a second life? Refurb Battery is working towards 100% bright green solutions for energy storage, which brings a step change in the energy transition the Netherlands is currently in. Refurb Battery uses recycled battery cells in their smart energy storage systems, the only one to do so as of this moment. These smart storage solutions can serve as a replacement for diesel generators on construction sites, outdoor events, temporary charging points for e-Mobility or help relieve the power grid with peak demand.

The storage systems are charged with 100% green energy from wind and solar parks in cooperation with our partner Dutch Sustainable Brands. This is how we shape the ecosystem of battery cells: by giving batteries a second life.