We did similar but a much smaller scale. People were throwing them down on the floor around the grounds at work. One guy said “you know that’s e waste? Its got a lithium battery in it.” We then collected about 4 of them and he installed them in some old bike lights another guy had (the lights were great, but burned through AAs like nothing I’ve seen, two of these cells and a little board kit you buy off amazon and it lasted a week on full charge).