Every person knows that recycling is important for various reasons. However, despite the push for recycling, many people are unfamiliar with battery recycling.
To bring awareness to the topic, here are some benefits to regularly recycling batteries.
Batteries Have Harmful Chemicals
This is one of the biggest reasons. Some people believe that throwing batteries in the trash is safer. The reality is they are much better to be recycled because they contain chemicals.
The chemicals inside batteries are dangerous to human health and keeping them inside of homes can let the chemicals linger in the air. The same can be said in landfills where these smells can carry great distances. They can also be near water sources which can pollute them and destroy wildlife.
It Recovers Non-Renewable Materials
Battery production involves a lot of raw material that needs to be mined, processed and then manufactured into a battery. These materials are metals like lead, nickel, steel, zinc, mercury, cobalt, lithium, and silver. These metals are not renewable sources; however, they are recyclable. By not properly recycling them, it guarantees those materials are no longer available and this negatively impacts the economy.
Reduces The Cost Of New Batteries
By throwing away batteries rather than recovering and re-using the same materials, it ensures that manufacturers will need to get more of those materials from other sources. This causes a rise in production costs. Those costs get passed down to consumers. This could all be mitigated if consumers recycled batteries.
Less Chances Of Fires & Explosions
Even though battery explosions and fires from batteries are rare, they can occur on facility floors. These facilities then must deal with fires and waste that can be very difficult to contain.
Some types of batteries are more likely to cause these problems, but all batteries need to be treated equally. Especially when they are damaged or exposed to heat. Proper storage and handling can lead to a reduced chance of this occurring.
Recycling Is Easy To Do
While batteries are easy to dispose of, they are also easy to recycle. Often, a city council will have a collection for batteries via a facility or through an event.
