Car Batteries Recycling - Should You Do It?An auto battery has a lifespan of few years after which we go to the battery shop and conveniently dump the battery and buy a new one. Seldom do we think about what is going to happen to the old battery. Generally dealers send the batteries to recyclers who extract the lead from the battery and sell it in the market. With stricter environmental laws it has become more and more difficult to recycle lead batteries. It needs to be understood that lead is a basic element and it cannot be destroyed. Car batteries recycling business is becoming more and more difficult in the industrialized nations and as a result many of the lead battery smelters have closed shop. Though they have closed their shops battery smelter owners have not vanished into the oblivion. They have started dumping the old batteries in the third world countries of Asia. Since environmental laws are not so strict in these countries the trade of car batteries recycling continues unabated. As a result we have high number of cases of lead poising among children and there is also a high amount of lead poisoning in the atmosphere. Lead that is extracted from the car batteries is used in making pipes, cable sheathings, and manufacturing of alloys. As a result brokers and manufacturers of lead reap in healthy profits. It is estimated that lead-acid batteries become obsolete at the rate of 100000 tonne per year out of which about 7000-10000 tonnes are left uncollected. We need to think about the step forward and how we can give our future generations a lead free environment. With changing technology and government pressure manufacturers are taking back old batteries from the dealers and recycling the lead and plastic in environment friendly factories. Car battery recycling is saving our environment to a great extent. The good news is that we have a huge success story hiding here. In the United States of America 97 percent of all battery lead is recycled. Compare this with only 55% of all aluminium soft drink and beer cans that are recycled, for newspapers the figure stands at 45%, 26% for glass bottles and tires respectively. Analysts and environmentalists who follow trends say that new lead car batteries use approximately 60-80% of recycled lead and plastic. The process of recycling car batteries is complex and requires technologically advanced machines to break down the battery and extract the different components. In the lead acid battery recycling process the battery is broken down and the lead and plastic is separated. Each material goes into a different system and the recycled product is extracted. As a citizen of your country you also have responsibility towards the environment. Before any car battery disposal, please ensure that you go to a dealer who will send the battery to the recycling factories rather than dump it in a garbage dump. This is environmentally hazardous. When you are buying the new battery check out if it is made out from recycled lead. It will be better if you opt for the new lead free batteries which are environmentally friendly. Keeping all these factors in mind we can give future generations a cleaner environment. Car battery recycling should be understood properly before being practiced by anyone who cares about the environment. |