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Facts About Recycling Batteries

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, consumers buy approximately 3 billion batteries each year. Batteries that are not recycled and end up in landfills can leak toxic materials into the environment.

  1. The Hazards

    • Batteries may contain a variety of heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, nickel and mercury. All of these can be extremely toxic to both humans and the environment. If a battery is burned, it can send dangerous fumes into the air.

    Car Batteries

    • The EPA states that approximately 90 percent of car batteries are recycled. When recycled, the battery is crushed down into small pieces and set the plastic parts aside. The lead is purified and used again, as are the plastic parts. Most car batteries are constructed from at least 60 percent to 80 percent recycled materials.

    Common Household Batteries

    • Those batteries used to power your remote, camera and other appliances can be recycled. They are valuable for the metal and plastic that they contain, which can be reused. Hearing aid and watch batteries are also valuable because the silver and lithium, among other materials, that they contain are rising in demand to be recycled.

    Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp.

    • Rechargeable batteries can be recycled to protect the environment.

      The non-profit Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. runs Call2Recycle, which is the only free program of its kind in North America. It supports consumer and businesses in recycling old cell phone and rechargeable batteries.

    Mercury-Containing Rechargeable Battery Management Act

    • The Mercury-Containing Rechargeable Battery Management Act was passed by the federal government in 1996. It helps states to speed the process up for collecting nickel-cadmium, or NiCad, batteries. This law also supports and encourages industry to volunteer to set up programs to recycle old NiCad batteries.

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