SheRecycles pilot · NSW
Where should a battery go when nobody will take it?
Shops turn away e-bike and e-scooter batteries every day — damaged, unbranded, modified, or simply not theirs. SheRecycles gives each one a next step, records what happened, and turns a refused battery into evidence a council can count.
Read it first. No form, no email.
Everything below is the pilot’s actual decision logic, rendered from the same rules the app runs — not a diagram someone drew of them. If a rule changes, this page changes with it.
What it does not show is the safety instructions themselves. Those are shown inside a real case, where each version is signed off, so there is only ever one place telling anyone what to do with a battery.
For shops, fleets, recyclers and councils
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The decision map
Five questions, in order. The first that applies decides.
A holder answers a short set of questions about the battery’s condition. The rules below run top to bottom on those answers; the first match sets the safety class, and the class decides what the app offers.
- 1
Is it hot, smoking or hissing?
Emergency guidance and 000, shown before the server even replies. No collection pathway is offered - a hot battery is never a handoff.
Emergency escalated - 2
Is it swollen or bulging, leaking, been in water, crushed, dented or punctured?
Routed to a specialist pathway for damaged batteries; some require pre-approval before travelling.
Specialist pathway - 3
Is it terminals or wires exposed or damaged, damage to its safety electronics suspected, subject to a safety recall or known defect?
Routed to a specialist pathway for damaged batteries; some require pre-approval before travelling.
Specialist pathway - 4
Is it been in a fire?
Routed to a specialist pathway for damaged batteries, with fire-exposure handling and escalation to staff.
Provisional: mapped cautiously until specific guidance for this case is approved.
Specialist pathway escalated - 5
Could none of the condition questions be answered?
A verification case. Not enough reliable information for a normal pathway, so staff verify an accepting pathway and the holder holds the battery safely meanwhile.
Verification case - 6
Was any condition question answered "not sure"?
A verification case. Not enough reliable information for a normal pathway, so staff verify an accepting pathway and the holder holds the battery safely meanwhile.
Verification case - 7
Has it been modified, or is that unknown?
A verification case. Not enough reliable information for a normal pathway, so staff verify an accepting pathway and the holder holds the battery safely meanwhile.
Verification case - 8
None of the above
A standard drop-off pathway is offered, with alternatives, and the holder chooses who should take it.
Standard pathway - Read top to bottom. The first row that applies decides — a swollen battery that is also hot is an emergency, not a specialist case. Ruleset 2026.10.2.
The whole journey
Eight stages, from a scan to a number a council can count
01
Initiate
A QR is scanned at a shop counter or at home. A scan is not a case; a session may become one.
02
Identify
Device, brand, capacity, weight and a label photo if offered. Weights are estimates and say so.
03
Reconstruct
Why it is being returned, its repair and incident history, what documents exist - what is known, unknown, or needs a specialist.
04
Assess
The rules above run. Deterministic, versioned, no model in the loop.
05
Qualify / escalate
Emergency guidance, a specialist pathway, or a verification case that goes to staff.
06
Coordinate
The holder chooses a receiver; the receiver sees the battery, never the person, and answers.
07
Handoff
Drop-off, or a collection run with a licensed carrier and a chain of custody.
08
Verify
An outcome is recorded with how sure we are. Only third-party or documented recoveries count as council-grade.
Every way a case can go
- Immediate hazard reportedEmergency guidance. Recorded, never routed.
- Damage or special conditionSpecialist pathway; pre-approval where the receiver requires it.
- Insufficient or unreliable informationVerification case: gather what is missing, reassess, then route.
- Sufficient information, standard caseThe appropriate standard pathway, with alternatives.
- Receiver needs more informationThe question is carried to the holder by SheRecycles and the answer carried back. Neither is given the other's address.
- Receiver acceptsHandoff proceeds; the outcome is recorded against the case.
- Receiver declinesThe reason is captured and the case is rerouted or escalated.
- Outcome unknownOptional follow-up asks the holder what actually happened; unverified stays unverified.
Have an actual battery?
The case takes one to two minutes and asks nothing about you until it has given you an answer. If you have a SheRecycles QR code from a shop or your council, scan it; otherwise start here.
Working for a council, a recycler or a carrier? What each of you sees, and sign in from the top of the page.