Battery Pollution Endangers the Environment

I use up and discard about 4 batteries a week, 16 per month and almost 200 per year. You may not have thought that batteries are a major environmental pollution problem. Unfortunately they are. This problem is getting worse every year that passes since more and more of our gadgets contain batteries.

Batteries are everywhere these days. They are in circular back scrubbers, electric toothbrushes, electric razors, cell-phones and in all the flashlights around the home. They are in family and commercial vehicles, in fire alarms, in clocks (sometimes as backups to regular current), entertainment center remote controllers, phones with quick dial memories, portable radios, laptop computers and literally in dozens of other devices around home and workplace.

I have counted 12 batteries in use in my kitchen, 10 in my living room, 12 in my home office and over 25 in my basement including my electric drill, lanterns, and equipment I keep for emergencies if the power goes out. At any one time I have over 75 batteries being used in my three bed room home. Then there are more in each of the two cars we own.

These batteries are divided into several types, each with their own potential toxic elements. By numbers the alkaline batteries make up the majority of these. They contain zinc and manganese dioxide with potassium or sodium hydroxide which are highly corrosive electrolytes. In landfills discarded batteries are leaking into the soil and underground water tables.

Mercury batteries contain 20 to 50 percent mercury or mercuric oxide according to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, "Pollution Prevention Fact Sheet". These batteries have been dumped from as early as the 1950s. The New York Times, in an article entitled "Battery Pollution Worries Japanese", Andrew Pollack, June 1994, reports the problems with leaking mercury batteries into landfills. Up to 80% of mercury runoff from landfills is from batteries alone according to Marc Lecard, "Recharge it - Batteries and Environmental Pollution", BNET, Nov.-Dec. 1993.

Car batteries contain 60 to 75 percent lead or lead oxide by weight. If these batteries are dumped or cars with these batteries abandoned this heavy metal will find its way into the environment. Other dangerous heavy metals found in batteries contain cadmium, nickel, and the equally dangerous metal lithium. In fact the cars of the future which are partially or fully powered by electricity are reducing battery weight by using more lithium batteries. Lithium by the way besides being physically dangerous is also psychoactive and used to treat bi-polar disease.

Additional information can be obtained from The Division of Hazardous Waste 801- 538-6170 or the Environmental Hotline 800-458-0145.

We know of other pollutants and are starting to deal with them. However, battery recycling is only starting to be done and then on a small scale. Do you recycle your batteries? I wouldn't even know where to go to dispose of them properly. We must make our governmental organizations aware of this problem before it becomes too big to handle.