Lots of things contain batteries.
That remote for your iPod dock, that laptop you’re on right now, the hearing aid your grandfather wears, that obnoxious remote control car your brother loves to drive around, the smoke detector that beeps in the middle of the night due to Fire Squad testing the system, the car you just got and love to drive around in, the phone you always talk on… The list goes on and on.
But what happens when they die? Gotta throw them out, right?
That is a bad idea.
It’s better to recycle. But it’s hard. You see recycling bins for paper, plastic, cans, glass but never batteries. Luckily for KUA though, we do have a place where we can recycle batteries. (The Environmental Science room, for those who don’t know). So it’s a quick fix for those here at KUA. But it’s a lot tougher for outside of campus.
One way to fix this is to get some rechargeable batteries. It cuts down on not only to energy to make the batteries, the money to buy them, but also the toxic medals that go into the landfills every year.
As stated by Battery University,
“Careless disposal of nickel-cadmium [wireless telephones, emergency lighting batteries] is hazardous to the environment. If used in landfills, the cadmium will eventually dissolve itself and the toxic substance can seep into the water supply, causing serious health problems. Our oceans are already beginning to show traces of cadmium (along with aspirin, penicillin and antidepressants) but the source of the contamination is unknown.”
(http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-20.htm)
The most common type of battery we see everyday is Alkaline B atteries (AA,AAA) are prone to leaking potassium hydroxide, a caustic agent that can cause respiratory, eye and skin irritation. (Wikipedia)
They also used to be PACKED with mercury. The new types have 1/10th of that.
(http://earth911.com/hazardous/single-use-batteries/alkaline-batteries/)
In Europe, recycling batteries is the law. Why not make it here too?
Things to do that can help: your own personal container where you collect batteries and then check with your local recycling or Household Hazardous Waste coordinators to find out where to dispose them safely.
http://www.batteryrecycling.com/residential
This site is one great example as to how easy it is to recycle.
They send you a box and you basically place it in the box and send it back to them and they do the necessary steps to break it down.
It shows, via picture, how it goes from your home to the different sections of plastic, lead, electrolyte 1 and 2 and what it breaks down into after that to then create another battery. Saves it from being sent to the landfill.