Learn About Battery Recycling
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.
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 : Companies who sell car batteries are legally obliged in most countries to help with the recycling of expired car batteries, and so you can take your old ones to them and let them take care of the rest of the process. They will have contacts who can melt down the plastic components (to be used for new plastic products) and turn the lead into new batteries.
Household batteries : It is a shame that these batteries, which are the most common type (used in children’s toys, clocks, torches, etc.), cannot really be used for anything else once they have run out, however, that does not mean that you should not take them to a battery recycling point. They need to be properly disposed of to avoid causing damage to the environment, and the only way that can happen is if the chemicals are drained from them before they are disposed of.
Continue : Battery Disposal