The recovery journey
What happens to a battery nobody will take
Eight stages, from the moment someone scans a QR code to a recorded outcome a council can count. Step through it below — the case record at the foot fills in as the journey runs, which is the whole point: a refused battery becomes evidence. Three groups of people touch it, and none of them can see what the others can.
Where should this battery actually go?
A shop couldn’t accept your battery.
Answer a few quick questions and we’ll point you to the right place.
StartTakes 1–2 minutes. No account needed.
Holder
Initiate
A bike shop has just turned someone away. The staff member points at a QR sticker on the counter, the holder scans it, and a case opens on their own phone — no app, no account, no queue.
The case exists because a shop said no. That refusal is the thing product stewardship schemes never see, and it is what makes this data worth something to a council.
What the system records here
- site EBSYD01
- qr COUNTER01
- category BUSINESS
- source QR
The case record, so far
SR-26-K7P9Q2- Case reference
- SR-26-K7P9Q2
- Referral site
- EBSYD01
- Source
- QR
- Device
- EBIKE
- Brand
- Bosch PowerPack
- Safety class
- STANDARD
- Postcode
- 2204
- Capacity
- 500 Wh
- Weight (est.)
- 2.8 kg
- Chemistry
- LI_ION
- Prior attempt
- REFUSED
- Reason for return
- DEGRADED
- Serial / QR
- BX-99127
- Information
- 3 known, 1 unknown
- Pathway
- Standard drop-off
- Receiver
- Renewable Metals
- Chosen by
- The holder
- Receiver decision
- ACCEPT
- Collection run
- RUN-26-0004
- Custody events
- 5 recorded
- Docket
- DKT-4471
- Weighed in
- 31.4 kg
- Outcome
- RECOVERED
- Evidence level
- VERIFIED
Who signs in, and what they see
SheRecycles never holds the battery. It sits between four parties who each know one part of the answer, and carries messages between them — which is the entire reason there is a job in the middle.
Runs the pilot
SheRecycles
- Every case, and the people on them
- Routing, first-mile records, collections
- Approves every partner login by hand
Nothing is hidden from staff — which is why nobody else gets a staff login.
Recyclers, council facilities, specialists
Receivers
- Batteries offered to them, and only those
- What is known, unknown, or needs a specialist
- Answer: we will take it / need more / not suitable
Never the holder's name, email, phone or postcode. Another organisation's case does not exist to them.
Waste and resource-recovery officers
Councils
- Totals for their own postcodes
- What the existing pathways turned away
- Their report, from the live record
Never an individual case and never a resident. There is no case-level endpoint for councils at all.
Licensed dangerous-goods carriers
Drivers
- The stops on their own company's runs
- Packs, hazards, and the DG packaging required
- Collected / couldn't collect / not safe to carry
The only outside login shown a holder's address — for one stop, once the run is dispatched, never the email, and every look is written to the chain of custody.
Nobody gets in by asking. A recycler or council signs up, the account exists but stays switched off, and a person at SheRecycles approves it. A new organisation is not offered to holders until that is switched on separately — being allowed in and being put in front of the public are two different decisions.
Why the last stage matters
Anyone can say a battery was recycled. The pilot records how sure we are, and only the top two count as council-grade — someone outside SheRecycles confirmed it, or a document proves it.
- UNVERIFIEDNobody has confirmed anything.
- SELF_REPORTEDThe holder told us, and nothing backs it.
- THIRD_PARTY_CONFIRMEDThe receiver confirmed it to us.
- VERIFIEDA docket or receipt proves it.
Who can answer a question
When a recycler asks for a serial number, SheRecycles cannot answer: it has never had the battery. Only the person with it in their shed can. So the question is carried to them and the answer carried back, and neither party is ever given the other’s address.
Weights are always estimates from label bands — about 150 Wh per kg at pack level — and are labelled as such wherever they appear. We would rather publish an honest estimate than a false measurement.
What is switched off
Built and deployed but dark, so they can be shown to partners before they reach a single holder. A staff member turns each on from the admin, one at a time.
- first_mileStages 4–6: the recovery record, the receiver portal, and the relay between a receiver and a holder.
- council_portalThe council login and its dashboard. Councils still get their report today; staff send it by hand.
- carrier_portalThe driver login: their own company’s runs, worked from a phone. Staff can still record every pickup themselves.
- collectionsStages 7–8: pickup requests, runs, chain of custody, dockets. On in production, with no partners configured yet, so holders are offered no pickup.
Emergency guidance is never recorded as a handoff or a recovery. A battery that is hot, smoking or hissing gets Fire and Rescue NSW advice and nothing else — the funnel does not count it.