Battery Recycling Guide
June 27, 2010
As it stands, only around three to five per cent of all batteries are actually recycled. Most old batteries end up in a landfill, where they leak toxic chemicals into the soil. Recycling batteries at designated recycling plants really makes a difference, and goes a long way to helping protect the environment. Most of us recycle at least some paper, plastic or glass, so why not batteries too?
If you think that there are no battery recycling points in your town then you are mistaken. Lots of supermarkets now have battery recycling points, as do some libraries and schools. Search on Google for the name of your town plus the term ‘recycle batteries’ if you really cannot think of anywhere. Once you have found somewhere that recycles batteries, all you have to do is take yours there when they have expired and drop them in a box. Not difficult, right?
Let’s now look at the most common battery types in a bit more detail…
Button batteries : These batteries, which are used in watches and hearing aids amongst other things, can have the mercury-oxide and silver-oxide reclaimed from them. This means that not only are there environmental benefits but there are economic ones too. For this reason, jewelers and pharmacies are happy to take these expired batteries from you because they can actually make some money from them.
Car batteries : Most modern countries have laws that require car battery sellers to collect old used batteries. The used batteries can be crushed into small pieces, with the plastic components being recycled into new plastic products and the recycled lead being turned back into new batteries or sent elsewhere for other uses.
Household batteries : These are the ones used in clocks, toys, torches, etc. and you no doubt have lots of them in your house at this very moment. Unfortunately, they are not that easy to recycle, however, that does not mean that you should simply throw them in the trash when they have stopped working. You should still take them to battery recycling points so that they can be disposed of properly.
If you liked this, try : Recycling Batteries
