Environmentally Friendly BatteriesIt is important to choose the most environmentally friendly batteries available. We use batteries in a huge range of devices from small music players to vehicles. The Greenbatteries Store is about the best site around for information on the best batteries and chargers to use.
North Americans buy over 4 billion batteries a year, and throw out about a third of them. Although batteries represent a small amount of the garbage that consumers discard, they represent about 80 percent of the mercury contamination. Batteries gradually break down in landfill sites and release heavy metals which can then leach into ground water. Burning them is no better, and maybe worse: if they are incinerated the toxins are released into the atmosphere and then the mercury can contaminate the general environment
Historically, the two most common battery types are alkaline and carbon/zinc. Up until recently, these have always contained mercury. However, now they contain much less mercury and some claim to have none at all.
Rechargeable batteries offer a solution to some of the problems of disposables, though they have problems of their own. The most common rechargeables (NiCads) are made from nickel and cadmium. Cadmium, unfortunately, is yet another toxic metal, and more than half the cadmium in the U.S. waste stream comes from discarded batteries. NiCads cost more and hold their charge only a third as long as standard disposables-but a good NiCad can be recharged up to 1,000 times, so you won't throw out nearly as many, and you'll save a great deal of money, even factoring in the price of a recharger. Rechargeable alkaline batteries are now available, some with reduced mercury content. Alkaline rechargeables don't need recharging as often as NiCads, but they tend not to last as long, holding up for only 25 to 100 recharges. Currently, the most environmentally friendly batteries are the nickel metal hydride battery with no toxic heavy metals at all. These store more electricity, outlast other rechargeables, and cost about the same. And when they finally wear out, you can toss them with a clear conscience. Another promising development is the li-ion batteries but it is extremely important to use the correct charger. Greenbatteries Store offers a great deal of information about batteries. They clearly demonstrate that it is extremely important to choose the right battery for the application at hand and employ the correct charger for the job. Using the wrong charger or battery for the situation can result at best in inefficiency and at worst a fire hazard. They carry a wide range of batteries and chargers.
Recycling batteries is a complicated issue. There are a wide range of mineral and chemical configurations in a battery's make-up. Some battery retailers provide the option of returning batteries for disposal. If you have no other recycling option it is best to bring them to a hazards waste depot in your community where they will be disposed of in a responsible manner. Even better than environmentally friendly batteries are the battery-less flashlights by
Applied Innotech
that provide light without using batteries.
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