Battery Recycling and Disposal

Did you know that there are more than 250 thousand tons of (or 3.5 billion) batteries produced annually for the North American consumer market?   Many of these batteries eventually make it into landfill sites, approximately 600 tons of batteries per day. They are not recycled simply because the cost of recycling is much higher than mining the raw materials.  What happens after that?   Over time the battery cases become breached and dangerous heavy metals leach into the surrounding ground and water.  The most toxic metals are mercury, cadmium and lead, metals found in many common types of batteries. Below is a summary of some popular types of battery and their recommended disposal method: Alkaline contains mercury and potassium hydroxide (corrosive).  Newer alkaline batteries have much less mercury content than old alkaline batteries.  For this reason many landfill bans have been lifted for Alkaline batteries.  Check with your local hazardous waste program for specifics concerning disposal of alkaline batteries.   Carbon-Zinc  has no mercury and can generally be thrown in the garbage. NiCad (Nickel-Cadmium) are rechargeable batteries popular with consumers.  These batteries must be recycled.   They should never be put in the garbage. Nickel metal hydride provide less of a threat to the environment than NiCad batteries but manufacturers or third party recyclers offer to recycle these batteries and therefore should be recycled.   There are several  mail-in programs that can be found on the internet. Lithium Ion are recycled same as nickel metal hydride. Button Cell  contains small amounts of mercury that has been added to prevent gases that could rupture the battery case.  These batteries could be classified as hazardous waste depending on the size of the battery.  They can be taken to jewellery stores for recycling or other places where the spent batteries can be exchanged for new. Lead Acid can be taken to auto parts stores and any store they can be purchased at. Before taking batteries for recycling or disposal the batteries should be sorted / separated by type.  Place each type into a separate plastic bag for easier handling.  Always be careful when handling spent batteries.  Some suffer from corrosion.  In rare instances spent batteries may explode if handled incorrectly.  Never store or hold new batteries together with old.       This article is sponsored by linersandcovers.com, provider of Plastic Bags.