The batteries powering your cell phone, watch, remote control and car certainly make life more convenient, but they can cause considerable environmental damage if they end up in your trash. Using rechargeable batteries helps because you use fewer of them, but they too wear out eventually. Recycling spent batteries remains the only environmentally sound method of disposal.
Consumption
In 2009, retailers sold 3 billion dry-cell batteries in the United States. Less than 20 percent of those are rechargeable batteries, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Dry-cell batteries power items such as radios, power tools, computers and flashlights. Auto parts manufacturers produce close to 99 million lead-acid, wet-cell car batteries per year. That doesn't even include the lead-acid batteries used to power emergency lighting, phone systems and industrial equipment.
Significance
All batteries, dry-cell or wet-cell, contain heavy metals such as lead, mercury, nickel or cadmium. If not recycled, batteries usually end up in dumps, where those metals can escape to contaminate soil and water supplies. If they're incinerated, heavy metals end up in the air or concentrated in the resulting ash, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Misconceptions
Since the 1996 Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act limited the use of mercury in alkaline batteries, consumers often assume there's no need to recycle batteries. In fact, some city and county governments recommend disposal with your household trash, according to Earth 911. But, even though the federal government doesn't classify alkaline batteries as hazardous waste, they still contain metals suitable for recycling.
Uses
During the recycling process, processors crush lead-acid batteries into small pieces and then separate the parts. Lead and plastic get reprocessed for new batteries. The acid is turned into sodium sulfate for laundry detergent, or cleaned at a wastewater treatment plant, according to Earth 911. Silver oxide batteries, the most common type of button battery, are shredded for metal recovery. Rechargeable lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium batteries are heated to separate the low-temperature metals from the high-temperature ones. Both metal types have value, according to Earth 911, whether they're solidified or processed as oxides. Alkaline batteries get heated to recover their zinc and steel.
Collection
Though community recycling bins rarely have a battery section, your community might have a household hazardous waste facility that accepts batteries. Most automobile battery sellers accept the old ones for recycling. They might also accept other types of lead-acid batteries, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Department and electronic stores often accept button and rechargeable batteries for recycling. If your household hazardous waste site won't accept alkaline batteries, Earth 911 maintains a national database of recycling centers.
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