Battery Waste Management | Batteries are hard to remove in the modern world

by Khushi Tayal Digital Marketer

Batteries are hard to remove in the modern world under their entry in every walk of human life. These batteries contain some heavy elements such as cadmium, mercury, lead, copper, nickel, or zinc, all hazardous to human health and the environment. The casual dumping of used batteries into landfills eventually results in the percolation of heavy metals and other toxic compounds into soil and water, polluting food and water supplies, and making them unhealthy for use by humanity and wildlife. The incorrect incineration releases certain poisonous metals into the air through stack gases or an increase in the ash produced by the combustion method. Therefore, the proper disposal of battery waste management is far more relevant than battery production; but it is usually a forgotten issue, particularly in developing and emerging countries. There are three authenticated systems to prevent and control the adversities created by the reckless dumping of spent batteries. There are three R’s: Reduce, Recharge, and Recycle. The present study first discusses the human health and environmental consequences of battery waste and focuses on restraining them.

A battery is a tool to directly convert the chemical energy in its current elements into electrical power through an electrochemical oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction. Batteries have a different mechanism as there are no changing parts, but they still maintain electric current through circuits. The batteries are normally categorized into two main categories, namely primary non-rechargeable (e.g., magnesium-manganese dioxide, zinc-carbon, alkaline zinc-mercuric oxide, alkaline-manganese dioxide, cadmium-mercuric oxide, zinc-alkaline electrolyte-silver oxide, zinc-air batteries, lithium- thionyl chloride, lithium-sulphur dioxide, lithium-sulphuryl chloride, lithium-manganese dioxide, lithium-silver vanadium oxide, lithium-iodine, etc.) and secondary rechargeable (e.g., nickel-iron, lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen, nickel-zinc, zinc-silver oxide, cadmium-silver oxide, iron- silver oxide, zinc-alkaline-manganese dioxide, etc.) batteries, depending on their capacity of being electrically recharged. The batteries are so intimately integrated with human life that there will only be an area without their attention. An incomplete list of these applications involve electric watches, calculators, hearing aids, clocks, medical appliances and implants, toys, power tools, portable radio and television, mobile phones, flashlights, camcorders, tablets, scooters, motorcycles, cars, laptops, trucks, buses, tractors, fork-lift trucks, electric

vehicles, golf carts, missiles, submarines, satellites, aircraft, spacecraft, auxiliary and emergency power supplies, uninterruptible power systems, load leveling, remote relay stations, meteorological equipment, and signals and alarms.

Size of Global Battery Waste and Battery Market

The information on domestic, regional, and global production of new batteries and the number of waste batteries presented are hardy available. There are different estimations here and some countries in news blogs, articles, factsheets, or recycling companies’ websites. Over 12 billion disposable batteries were sold globally in 1993. This figure approached 40 billion batteries in 2006. The total battery trades data for the United Kingdom in the year 2003 designates that primary batteries formed 79.12% (19,662 tonnes) of total sales, of which alkaline manganese batteries acquired the largest market share (59.96%), and the secondary batteries accounted for 20.87% (5,188 tonnes) of total annual sales. Nearly 671 million non- rechargeable batteries were sold in Canada in 2007, while the sale of rechargeable batteries was around 37 million only. Complete 3.56 billion pieces of series (2.15 billion primary and 1.41 billion secondary) were presented in Japan in 2014.

Frost & Sullivan (2009) considered the interest in global battery market at large

$47.5 billion and prophesied that this figure would reach $74 billion in 2015. In 2009, first batteries were estimated for 23.6% of the global market, with 76.4% share going to secondary batteries. Frost & Sullivan prophesied a slump of 7.4% for primary batteries in income distribution by 2015, while the market share for rechargeable batteries was expected to develop to 82.6% by 2015.

Freedonia group (2012) evaluates the global battery industry's size at $89.4 billion, which is demanded to reach $132 billion in 2016 with an 8.1% annual growth rate. China will be the biggest national market by size, while India, attended by South Korea, will join the fastest growing rate. The secondary rechargeable batteries will pass the primary non- rechargeable models due to market-driven by mobile phones, personal entertainment gadgets, laptop computers, electric bicycle, and motor vehicles.

Hazards of waste batteries

A chemical or physical form can damage people, property, or the atmosphere is termed as a Hazard. A battery that is no extended wanted or is unusable for its intended purpose and is intended for storage, recycling, or disposal is termed a battery waste management. Most of the batteries include toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, zinc, mercury, nickel, or copper, all hazardous to human health and the environment. However, the Basel Convention reflects only the batteries containing cadmium, lead, and mercury as dangerous. Simultaneously, the batteries that do not include cadmium, lead or mercury, such as alkaline manganese and zinc-carbon, are categorized as non‐hazardous.

When waste batteries are thrown away in the trash, they finish up in landfills. The toxic heavy metals/compounds in these batteries can pollute the environment by filtering into soil and water, polluting water bodies, and making them unfit for use by humanity and wildlife. When burned, certain toxic metals strength release into air through stack gases or store in the ash produced by the combustion method. The possible impacts of hazardous battery wastes on human health and the environment

Reduce - Reducing the generation of spent batteries is the most efficient method to preserve the environment than finding ways to perfect recycling or proper disposal after being created. The use of batteries should be kept for those purposes only where electric power cannot be used, such as automobiles, wristwatches, calculators, hand-held remotes, children's toys, military devices, etc. It will ever help if a user checks his stock of batteries prepared at home or in-store (in case of the bulk user) before buying more. The customer should also have a clear answer of the following two questions: (i) What type of battery do I need for my application? and (ii) How many batteries do I accurately need for my application? If possible, one should buy batteries, including less/no toxic materials, to decrease the quantity of probably hazardous wastes requiring special disposal methods.