NEW PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES OVERWHELM RECHARGEABLE AND RECYCLING EFFORTS

“On average, each person in the United States discards eight dry-cell batteries per year”, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov/msw/battery.htm).

It is estimated that Canadians will discard 500 Million primary (non-rechargeable) and rechargeable batteries up to 2010. This is up from 3.5 Million discarded in 2004.

The dramatic increase in demand for batteries has come from unprecidented numbers of electronic devices being produced and brought on market each year. There have never been so many types and styles of portable electronic devices in our American culture before. With all the effort to educate the public about recycling and using rechargeable batteries, it would seem that we would have made more progress. The success in education is happening on a large scale, but it just cannot out-step the almost critical mass of products coming online every year.

Here are some facts from the United States EPA:

• Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools.
• Inside a battery, heavy metals react with chemical electrolyte to produce the battery’s power.
• Wet-cell batteries, which contain a liquid electrolyte, commonly power automobiles, boats, or motorcycles.
• Nearly 99 million wet-cell lead-acid car batteries are manufactured each year.
• Mercury was phased out of certain types of batteries in conjunction with the “Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act,” passed in 1996.
• Recycling batteries keeps heavy metals out of landfills and the air.
• Recycling saves resources because recovered plastic and metals can be used to make new batteries.

“The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a nonprofit public service organization, targets four kinds of rechargeable batteries for recycling:

• nickel-cadmium (Ni-CD),
• nickel metal hydride,
• lithium ion,
• small-sealed lead.

“Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment when batteries are improperly disposed of. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process.” (United States EPA)

“It is strongly recommended that we recycle alkaline batteries. Although newer alkaline batteries contain less mercury than their predecessors, they are still made of metals and other toxins which contaminate the air and soil,” says WasteCap of Massachusetts (http://www.wastecap.org/wastecap/rsd/batteries.htm).

We can begin by using quality rechargeable batteries made by reputable companies. For all the hundreds of times we use them, we only throw them away once. Because of all the time and money we will save using rechargeable batteries, perhaps an attitude and mindset of awareness will result, our culture may become more willing to recycle.