Groundwater Contamination Due to Batteries

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There are 30 million tons of solid waste discarded by Texas residents each year. Residential waste is most of that, at 63%, while the rest is commercial and institutional. Many early landfills were not designed to keep rain water from leaching into the groundwater. Even though some of the newer landfills may have liners to prevent water contamination they may still leak. When the liners fail they pollute lakes and rivers allowing lead and acid from batteries to contaminate the water. 88% of mercury found in streams is due to dry cell batteries and 50% is due to cadmium. Mercury exposed to the environment can allow toxic vapors to reside in that area for many years. Recycling of batteries can keep some of these harmful metals from contaminating our landfills.

Most of the common household batteries are AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, and button batteries, or "Dry Cell batteries". 3 million of these batteries are purchased per year . These are typically single-use alkaline batteries. They are mainly used for flashlights, toys, remote controls, and clocks. The batteries in these appliances are replaced quite frequently and most of the time are thrown in the trash instead of being recycled. The #1 recycled battery is the Lead-acid automotive battery at a 98% recycle rate. Because of state law lead-acid automotive battery retailers accept used batteries for recycling. New batteries are made up of 60% to 80% recycled batteries and the rest is used to make plastic products.

Non automotive lead-acid batteries such as Gel Cell and sealed lead-acid batteries are most commonly used in alarm systems, emergency lighting, and industrial equipment. Most automotive stores will also accept these types of batteries for recycling or they can be...

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...ly. So please stop and think before trashing your used up batteries, that is what you are drinking, bating in, and giving to you your children. Instead if trashing your batteries collect and recycle them, and next time you go to purchase batteries consider reaching for the rechargeable batteries.

Bibliography
Battery Solutions - www.batteryrecycling.com/regulations

Batteries Common Wastes and Materials/ US EPA www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/battery.htm

Recycling/ GS Battery (USA), Inc- www.gsbattery.com/content/recycling

How to Recycle Batteries - Battery University- http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/artical/recycling_batteries Materials used for rechargeable batteries ehow- www.ehow.com/about_6170008_matreials-used-rechargeable-batteries.html

US Federal Law on Battery recycling ehow-
www.ehow.com/list_7541286_federal-laws-battery-recycling.html

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