About Us
At CasuallyLoaded®, we’re a small business producing tough, lightweight, and versatile lithium-ion powerbanks and portable chargers. We’re entirely Australian-owned, with all of our manufacturing taking place in the sunshine state of Queensland. Every product we sell has one goal: to provide the very best quality and price to anyone looking to buy sustainable lithium-ion battery technology.
If you’ve seen our homepage or any of our advertising on social media, you’ve probably noticed that we only use 100% sustainably sourced lithium-ion batteries. Sustainability and honesty are at the heart of everything we do, so the rest of this page will give a detailed overview of who we are and how we actually source sustainable lithium-ion batteries.
When it comes to sourcing our batteries, we do things a bit differently from other brands. Our unique approach involves running a recycling network called EcoSig, which collects single-use disposable vapes from nightlife venues. Now, we know you might be feeling sceptical, as vapes probably seem like an unlikely and unreliable battery source.
However, they actually contain high-quality brand-new lithium-ion batteries, which are the exact same type of battery found in smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, and pretty much all other modern battery-powered electronics. Which makes these small, lightweight, and powerful vape batteries perfect for use in our powerbanks.
Once we’ve collected the vapes, we safely break them down to recover the brand-new lithium-ion batteries they contain. We do this because nearly every vape on the market in Australia is a sealed single-use device powered by a brand-new fully rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This makes vapes not only a massive health hazard but also extremely environmentally wasteful.
The batteries they contain are made and fully charged in a professional large-scale factory and then installed inside a vape. Said vape is used until the battery is out of charge and then thrown away. However, that lithium-ion battery, being used just once and then discarded, is still pretty much brand new and fully rechargeable, with on average over 3000 more charges left in its lifespan.
Essentially the best comparison we can make is that the way people treat these vapes would be like if someone bought a brand new fully charged smartphone, used it until its battery went flat and instead of recharging it, just threw it away and bought a new one. Of course, vapes and smartphones are entirely different devices, but under the hood their batteries are the exact same.
Again, you may still be sceptical about the quality and reliability of these batteries, but don’t worry, we’re not just blindly repurposing them. Each battery we recover is individually and meticulously cleaned, and then undergoes a thorough series of quality and safety tests to ensure its still in the same condition it was when it was manufactured, often only a few months prior.
These tests include a visual damage inspection, which we now use AI and machine vision to assist with. We then use a specialised, custom-made computer system to test each battery's voltage, power output, internal resistance, electric capacity, and ability to hold a charge for extended periods of time.
To meet our high standards for performance and safety, each battery must pass each of these tests twice, once as an individual battery and then again once connected with other batteries and installed within one of our powerbanks. If for any reason a battery by itself or within one of our powerbanks fails any of these tests, it will not be used. Instead, it will be sent to an approved third party for appropriate disposal.
Our method stops a huge amount of brand-new lithium-ion batteries and other vape-related waste from being buried in landfills, while also directly repurposing the batteries into a device able to take full advantage of their rechargeable, long-life nature.
While other brands rely on freshly mined materials and third-party manufacturers to create their powerbanks, we believe in giving these perfectly good batteries a second life right here in Queensland. This means every CasuallyLoaded® brand powerbank is a testament to our commitment to sustainability and our drive to bring manufacturing jobs back into Australia. By choosing our products, you’re not just getting a cost-effective, dependable source of portable power, you’re supporting a cleaner, greener, Australian-made future.
We’re proud of the work our small team does and would love to answer any questions you may have, so please get in contact with us. Alternatively, if you’re eager to take a look at the powerbanks we make, head over to this page.
Thanks for reading!