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What Are the Benefits of Battery Recycling?

Batteries fuel small electronics and large machines in our everyday lives. Although recycling in the U.S. in the past few decades has helped protect us and the environment from batteries' harmful components, there are still too many batteries being discarded each day. While you may not see the benefit of recycling your batteries right away, the long-term benefits are significant, and affect both you and the environment.

  1. Size and Space

    • Batteries, big and small, take up room in those landfills. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), three billion batteries (not including automotive batteries) are bought every year in the U.S. alone. Those batteries, big and small, take up room in landfills. Recycling batteries means less space is taken up in the landfills each year.

    Harmful Metals

    • Mercury, zinc, lithium and lead are just some of the metals used in different battery types. These metals are not only dangerous if they're consumed directly, they can also be dangerous if they leak or break down in a landfill and find their way to your water supply. Recycling batteries keeps these harmful metals away from the environment and you, and kept in factories that are meant to house them.

    Harmful Chemicals

    • Batteries contain harmful chemicals, such as sulfuric acid. These chemicals can not only leak into the soil and into the water source of your city when batteries are left in landfills, but can also corrode other items left in landfills. Styrofoam, rubbers and plastics can be corroded by the chemicals leaking out of nearby batteries. These items can also leak into the soil, the water and even the air.

    Less Expensive Batteries

    • Recycling batteries allows manufacturing companies to reuse materials to create new batteries and other consumer items. The metals used in batteries are often often valuable and expensive. By recycling batteries, companies reduce the money they spend on these metals, which allows them to pass savings onto the consumers.

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