Batteries often get a bad rap, since they’re associated with toxic heavy metals, acid, and other pollution that can leak into the environment if they are not properly disposed of, i.e., put in a landfill. The upside is that batteries are some of the MOST recyclable items we use, often being 99 or 100% recycled into a new product!
I’d like to take a moment to shine a light on lead batteries, an unsung hero often viewed with suspicion in the environmental world. Although lead has numerous documented, detrimental effects on health and development, and is not a thing we really want to come into contact with on a daily basis (shout out to the IH folks!), there’s a reason it is so widely used, AND it’s a recycling superstar to boot!
Lead Acid Batteries yield the following materials:
- Plastic, often used to make new battery casings
- Lead, generally used to make new batteries
- Water (seriously!) that is treated to clean-water standards and released into the sewer system
- Sodium sulfate, which is used in laundry detergent, glass, and textile manufacturing
Lead-based batteries can be infinitely recycled. They are used to store renewable energy from wind turbines and solar panels, power over 1 billion vehicles worldwide, are used in 100% of hybrid vehicles, and, by 2020, will save the equivalent of 25 billion kg of CO2 by their use in vehicles.
To learn about the many second-life uses of lead and other types of batteries, you can explore these links:
http://www.gopherresource.com/what-we-do/power-of-recycling/recycling-facts.html
http://www.gopherresource.com/what-we-do/battery-recycling-process.html