By: Stephenie M.
How do you discard your batteries? They play a significant role in our daily lives, existing in our laptops, cars, calculators, watches, cameras, and more integral devices. Environmental and health issues can arise when batteries are disposed of improperly, as they release greenhouse emissions, causing temperatures to rise. To promote battery recycling, companies must implement drive-thrus, events, or other methods to retrieve batteries. Recycling batteries retrieves valuable materials, which lessens the need to mine and decreases the risk of improper disposal of chemicals.
Secondary and primary batteries contain toxic chemicals that must be disposed of properly to ensure individuals and the environment are not affected by harmful contents. Batteries contain a multitude of chemicals that may be detrimental to the health of organisms. Primary batteries are single-use batteries, unlike secondary batteries that can be recharged and used for an average of four years. Primary batteries are alkaline, manganese, zinc, carbon, and button; secondary batteries include lithium-ion, lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, and nickel-metal hydride. The toxic materials in batteries include lead, mercury, nickel, cadmium, lithium that can pose a danger to the health of individuals as strong corrosive acids when in contact with the skin cause burns, and exposure to acid fumes can cause dizziness and nausea. Approximately “15 billion primary batteries [get] thrown away each year [worldwide], all of which end up in landfills” (Electropia). The number of batteries discarded in landfills each year is a major concern considering the amount of hazardous chemicals batteries contain. The chemicals in secondary and primary batteries can leach into the surrounding environment at a landfill, where chemicals disintegrate. The leaked material can contaminate soil and water, eventually making its path towards humans and wildlife. Therefore, recycling batteries is necessary to prevent toxic chemicals from entering the environment and potentially endangering people’s health.
To prevent the improper disposal of batteries, companies have to do a better job of making battery recycling more accessible to consumers. Recycling batteries reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves resources, and lessens the economic demand for mining. Additionally, recycled batteries can create new batteries and stainless steel products. To promote the recycling of batteries, governments must increase awareness of the vast benefits of battery recycling with substantive laws or policies that ensure batteries are diverted from landfills where they can potentially cause danger to human health and the environment.
Reusable materials in batteries are used to manufacture new batteries, stainless steel products, laundry detergent, new goods, plastics, and ceramics. Batteries are first collected and processed in facilities where they are sorted into groups and taken apart. Recovered materials get categorized into groups based on chemistry and are used to build new batteries and products.
A pouch cell is depicted above, it is a lightweight solution to the battery, and it's shredded to yield different elements. The pouch has yielded different products by smelting and purification.
Photo from: Argonne National Laboratory.
Unrecyclable acids and hazardous materials in batteries are disposed of properly, as chemicals are neutralized and released into the sewer system or transformed into sodium sulfate and recycled for laundry detergent. Iron in all batteries makes new goods, while nickel and mercury make steel, manganese oxide is processed to recover zinc oxide that can make plastics and ceramics. Lithium-ion batteries are found in electric vehicles and contain valuable metals that can be recovered and reused to power many items such as phones, laptops, earphones, and other electrical devices. According to Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, “only 2–3% of Li-ion batteries are collected and sent offshore for recycling (CSIRO)”. Li-ion batteries are not universally recycled in practice, resulting in low-scale economic recycling results, so research groups are trying to expand battery recycling technology for lithium-ion batteries that are aging. Batteries have recyclable materials that manufacture many new products, reducing the need to mine, refine raw materials, and prevent pollution.
Recycling batteries requires many complex steps, which leads companies to discard the importance of recycling batteries unless it is mandatory in a state. Photo from: Argonne National Laboratory.
Companies tend to overlook the importance of recycling batteries as the procedure to separate materials can be expensive. The battery recycling business is small compared to the vast battery industry. The lead-acid battery is the only battery that can be recycled profitably, as 70% of its weight is recyclable, unlike other batteries that are subsidized.
To promote battery recycling, the government should mandate disposal methods that would require all companies to recycle batteries used by consumers. Only 22 out of 50 states have mandatory recycling, and the state number needs to grow to reduce the dangers batteries pose to the environment and people’s health. A battery can also cause fires in landfills, such as the lithium-ion battery used for electric vehicles, which causes underground fires that burn for years and lead to exposure to toxic chemicals. Recycling batteries can also help conserve natural materials and reduce the need for virgin materials and mining. Preventing water pollution, chemical leaching, and health problems induced by chemicals found in batteries requires companies to make recycling more accessible.
Companies need to find an efficient way to collect batteries as they contain harmful chemicals that need to be disposed of properly. The government requires less than half of all fifty states to retrieve used batteries from consumers, and it contributes to the mass number of batteries that end up in landfills. Some companies do battery collecting drive-thru’s where consumers can give away used batteries for recycling, and municipalities host events where they collect hazardous waste and electronics. Some towns have permanent drop-off points, but most cities don’t have a system for battery collection. Disposing of batteries incorrectly leads to overheating, fires, contamination of groundwater and ecosystems, and even the food chain. Promoting battery recycling will ensure batteries are handled with care while also lessening the need for mining, conserving metals and nonmetals, and reducing green gas emissions. Materials recovered from batteries make new goods, and toxic chemicals are transfigured into disposable liquids that can go through sewer systems. To decrease the potential dangers presented by the disposal of batteries, the government needs to promote the importance of recycling batteries by organizing more events where consumers can drop off batteries.
Discussion Questions:
How should batteries be stored if planning to recycle them and how should they be stored?
What occurs if batteries are recycled improperly? How are the environment and human health affected?
Bibliography:
Battery Recycling, www.mpoweruk.com/recycling.htm#:~:text=World%20wide%2015%20billion%20primary,batteries%20have%20on%20the%20environment.&text=World%20wide%2015%20billion%20primary,batteries%20have%20on%20the%20environment.
Hughes, Patrick. “The Drive to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Chemistry World, Chemistry World, 25 Sept. 2020, www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-drive-to-recycle-lithium-ion-batteries/4012222.article.
Jacoby, Mitch. “It’s Time to Get Serious About Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries.” C&EN, 14 July 2019, cen.acs.org/materials/energy-storage/time-serious-recycling-lithium/97/i28.
Lin Follow, Shan. “Battery Recycling Slide Presentation.” SlideShare, 30 Oct. 2010, www.slideshare.net/shan032/battery-recycling-slide-presentation.