America has a huge, untapped stockpile of critical minerals –cobalt, nickel, lithium, and copper – locked inside old electronics and forgotten rechargeable devices. Yet with only 16 percent of electronics recycled in the U.S., most of those minerals end up stranded in junk drawers or sent to landfills.
Redwood has spent years trying to solve this by making recycling safer and easier for everyone, and partnering with businesses for nationwide drop-off sites, working with nonprofits like Rotary Club on community events, and offering easy direct-ship options for anyone.
The Redwood Battery Bin is a first-of-its-kind, patented system that safely stores, packages, and monitors hundreds of batteries or battery-containing devices with zero preparation required; no taping, bagging, sorting or disassembly. Inside, automated sensing, spatial packing and real-time condition monitoring quietly manage every item, making it the first public-facing collection technology built to handle mixed chemistries and devices at scale with fire-safe storage and continuous telemetry.
Battery recycling today still relies on fire-retardant cardboard boxes, often tucked away from public view. They accept limited chemistries, require manual sorting and preparation, and are vulnerable to theft, mishandling, and thermal events.
As an independent collector, Redwood recycles rechargeable batteries and sends anything else to appropriate recycling partners. The bin was built with that same mindset – modern, safe, and easy to use, removing the friction that has kept battery collection rates low for years. And since rechargeable batteries carry both value and real fire risk, getting them out of junk drawers and into proper recycling channels matters more than ever.
How it works:
Mixed-battery collection – Consumers can drop off batteries or devices (up to 300 Wh) as-is ( no taping, bagging, pre-sorting or disassembly required.) Inside, a microcontroller uses infrared, ultrasonic and positional sensing to evaluate each item, optimizing packing density, and maintaining safe internal conditions.
Automated sensing – From the outside the bin looks simple, but inside it’s a fully-automated sensing and materials-management platform that continuously verifies internal status and monitors deposited items without manual intervention.
Real-time telemetry – The bin communicates its condition in real time, giving operators full visibility into drum position, fill level, volume, and system health, dramatically reducing site-level labor and touch points that challenge traditional recycling programs.
End-to-end service – Collected materials are then securely transported and processed at Redwood’s facilities in Nevada & South Carolina, where more than 95 percent of the critical materials in batteries are recovered.
Together, these features create a safer, more reliable and truly scalable collection system. By combining automated sensing, real-time telemetry, fire-suppression media, and secure containment in a single unit, the bin reduces the labor, sorting and monitoring burdens that limit most public drop-off programs. It also addresses key risks – preventing theft and data exposure, minimizing thermal-event hazards, and ensuring consistent compliance.
Designed for standard retail and municipal logistics, the bin ships easily, lowers handling costs, and makes high-volume battery collection practical in busy public settings. And with a visible, user-friendly design, it enables communities to collect significantly more material while keeping people and facilities safer.
Published January 2026
