Why You Should Recycle Batteries

Posted by Rolf Joho on June 13th, 2010 filed in What Causes Global Warming

Ask yourself, when was the last time you recycled any batteries? It is quite possible that you never have, which is disappointing, but not surprising, as less than 5% of batteries get recycled. It is a strange anomaly as recycling batteries is no more difficult than recycling paper, plastic, glass, etc. which most of us at least try to recycle these days.

Many supermarkets and shops that sell batteries now have collection boxes for used batteries. Also, some town halls, libraries or schools have also set up collection points for recycling batteries. So, it is no excuse to say that recycling batteries is too inconvenient. If you spend five minutes looking online for places to recycle batteries in your local area then you will certainly find a few.

What follows is a list of the most common types of batteries and a brief look at if / how they can be recycled…

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.

Continue : Battery Disposal