Recycling Articles : Recycling Batteries

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Batteries, our most convenient source of portable electricity, are now a part of our everyday lives, being the energy sources for large amounts of household objects. I would almost bet that there is a battery within a few feet of you right at this second that would either be discarded or recycled when it had finished being useful. If you are using a laptop, then you need look no further to prove me right.

Batteries are toxic and when dumped they leak lead, cadmium, nickel hydrde and lithium, which all have devastating effects on animal and plant life. However, if correctly recycled, we have a chance of preventing this damange and creating fewer large landfill sites.

Wet cell batteries are the type used in cars and recently, recycling of these batteries has not only become more stringently enforced by law but easier and the systems for doing so better developed.

Casual dumping of a car battery can mean heavy fines or prison and recycling centres now have facilities to store and recycle car batteries. They contain silver and lead and so many companies make a large profit from recycling them. If there is no-one local to you who will do it, a little internet research should pay dividends.

Dry cell batteries are the other type of battery, the batery commonly found in household appliances. These are more difficult to recycle and until recently there were no battery recycling facilities in the UK but batteries that were to be recycled were shipped to France. Recent statistics indicate that only around 2% of all disposable batteries are recycled rising to about 5% of rechargeable batteries.

Nowadays howver, dry cell battery banks are often present in supermarkets, chemists or photographic shops. These boxes will accept all dry-cell household batteries. It is important to store the batteries properly before recyclig them to prevent leakage, they need to be away from sunlight or heat and preferably in a glass bottle. Overall, batteries are a product which need a lot more attention than they are currently given in order to be recycled properly.

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