Background
There exist many misconceptions regarding the nature of materials that can be successfully recycled. Questions arise as to the efficiency and success of recycling programs. 4 More than 3 billon alkaline and rechargeable batteries are purchased every year in the U.S. and end up in a dump. 5 Our developed world is running out of suitable municipal landfill locations, and even the most reliable sites are responsible for releasing methane into the air and leaching harmful toxic pollutants in the water and soil. Poorly lined landfills can also exude leachate and leak hazardous metals into the local groundwater. Landfills are often lined with clay or plastic and then sealed without oxygen. When waste breaks down slowly over a long period of time, methane is released and produces a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than CO 2. Waste is only waste if nothing can be done to make it useful. It can also be a resource. Recycling is reprocessing of recovered materials at the end of a product life, returning them once again into the use stream.
Attitudes toward Recycling
Recycling is the simplest single most responsible thing a citizen can do individually to help solve the problems of waste management. Our personal behaviors deem that our daily habits directly contribute to whether we practice sound management and set an example for those who are less informed and educated but really want to do the right thing. We as ordinary citizens paired with business and industry have an impact on our community. Simply by starting with household waste such as the batteries, which our students are most familiar, they can have an impact on their own community. The main reason for recycling batteries is to prevent hazardous materials such as cadmium, mercury, lead, and zinc, from entering the landfills. Recycling is a simple way to help reduce unnecessary waste in our environment.
Legislation and Responsibility
President Obama was quoted as saying "If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans to work, and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future." He announced more than $2.4 billion dollars in grants to accelerate manufacturing and deployment of the next generation of U.S. batteries and electric vehicles. 6 The funding was under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. More than 48 new and advanced battery and electric drive projects were selected through the Department of Energy, which will accelerate the development of U.S. manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles. 5 billion dollars were allocated for manufacturing of batteries and to expand battery recycling capacity. 7 We are fortunate that mercury, used to prevent corrosion and to ensure long shelf life, was largely phased out of batteries with the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act of 1996. Efficient and cost-effective disposal of used nickel cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries used small sealed lead-acid (SSLA) batteries, and other regulated batteries. 8
Today's common household single use batteries AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-volt, don't pose as a great of a threat to modern landfills as they used to because they contain much less mercury than their predecessors. The trend is that some municipalities will accept these batteries at hazardous-waste facilities, which will send them to be processed. Recycled components create new batteries. Recycling centers receive 0.85 cents per pound. 9 Spent rechargeable batteries from lap top computers, cell phones, and MP3 players pose a big issue. Although the rechargeable batteries that power them have many environmental advantages, they typically have toxic heavy metals that make them a threat to both landfills and incinerators if not recycled properly.
Effects of Hazardous Waste
The effect of environmental contaminants on health is a major concern because exposure is associated with an increasing number of diseases including diabetes, cancer and even infertility. 10 Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates at least ten metals, including Pb, Cd, and Cu, and unregulated metals like Ni and Zn will be monitored in the future. These elements are found in e-waste and other sources, as primary contaminants in drinking water. 11 Lead is an environmental contaminant found in municipal waste that can damage every human organ system. 12
History of a Battery
Dating back some four and a half thousand years ago, we are sure that recovered ancient copper vessels were discovered plated with gold by an electrochemical process. This battery was found near Bagdad and was known as the Parthian. 13 It wasn't until 1800 that Alessandro Volta invented the volta cell. Volta discovered that certain fluids would generate a continuous flow of electrical power when used as a conductor. The volta battery was made by stacking alternating layers of zinc, blotting paper, soaked in salt water, and silver. This battery was known as the voltaic pile. Englishman, John F. Daniell invented the Daniell Cell in 1836, which used two electrolytes: copper sulfate and zinc sulfate. The Daniell cell lasted longer than the Volta cell. In 1859, the first rechargeable battery was invented by Gaston Plante which was based on a lead-acid cell, a system still used today. 14
The first inventor credited with the useable primary battery was George Leclanche whose invention in 1860 used a mixture of manganese dioxide and coal as a positive electrolyte and used amalgamated zinc as a negative electrode with a current collector of coal and a solution of ammonium chloride. 15
History of Chemistry
Dating back to more than 10,000 B.C., objects of such as jewelry and tools were carved or cut from gold, silver, and copper. In 3,200 B.C., copper was mined on a large scale in Egypt. Copper was used in the making of bronze during the Bronze Age. In 1,550 B.C., plows of bronze were used in what is now Vermont. In 400-300 B.C., the term element is coined by Plato, the famous Greek philosopher. The Greeks consider the four basic kinds of matter, or elements, to be fire, water, earth, and air. In 700-1,300 A.D., Chemistry develops into an experimental science through the efforts of the alchemists. They learn many things about how elements behave and combine with each other. In 1,661, Robert Boyle, an English chemist, re-introduces the idea of basic types of matter called elements. Another English chemist, John Dalton in 1803, proposes his atomic theory. Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian scientist, develops a periodic table of elements. 16
What is a Battery?
Electrochemical power sources or batteries are devices that convert energy stored in chemicals into electrical energy. A battery produces an electric current when its terminals are connected to another to form a circuit. All batteries contain two electrodes and an electrolyte which produce the chemical reaction with the electrolyte carrying a current. In dry batteries, the electrolyte is a paste consisting of powdered chemicals. Wet batteries, which are used in cars, contain a liquid electrolyte. A battery's voltage depends on the metals used in its electrodes. According to the EPA, a battery means a device consisting of one or more electrically connected electrochemical cells that are designed to receive, store, and deliver electric energy. 17
A cell of a battery has two electrodes and an electrolyte. Between the electrodes are positive and negative ions. Positive charged ions have fewer electrons than protons, and in negatively charged ions, there are more electrons than protons.
The electrons react with the electrolyte. Electrons leave one of the electrodes and build up on the other. Work is done in separating the charges, and that work is stored in the battery as electrical potential energy.
How do Batteries Work?
A battery is made up of many cells. A liquid called an electrolyte is in each cell. This liquid is made up of countless of billions of positive and negative charges. Two rods made of different materials are submerged in the electrolyte in each cell. The rods are called electrodes. A chemical reaction in the electrolyte sends positive particles to one electrode and negative particles to the other. When a wire is connected to the two electrodes, current flows along the wire. This current can be used to power a device. When the chemicals in the cell have been used up, the current no longer flows. 18
Electric Current
Atoms have a positively charged nucleus surrounded by several negatively charged particles. The electrons carry the same amount of negative charge. So the charge on the nucleus is equal in size to the total charge of all the electrons in an atom. Sometimes an element can have a net positive or negative charge by gaining or losing electrons in which we call ions. 19
Ohm's Law
Ohm's Law defines the relationship between power and voltage, current and resistance. One ohm is the resistance value through which one volt will maintain a current of one ampere. Current is what flows on a wire or conductor like water flowing in a stream. Current flows from negative to positive on the surface of a conductor. Current is thus measured in A amperes or amps. Voltage is the difference in electrical potential between two points in a circuit. It's the push behind current flow through a circuit, which is measured in V volts. Resistance determines how much current will flow through a component. Resistors are used to control voltage and current levels. A very low resistance allows a large amount of current to flow. A very high resistance allows a small amount of current to flow. Resistance is measured in ohms. Power is the amount of current times the voltage level at a given point measured in wattage or watts. ? is the symbol that represents ohm. 20
Electrical potential energy can be calculated using the formula: V=IR
I=current (amperes) and R = resistance (ohms)
Uses for Recycled Batteries
Lead-acid batteries are now recycled through retailers for recycling. Lead-acid batteries have the highest recycling rate in that 99 % of the lead is recycled and a typical battery contains 60 to 80 percent recycled lead and plastic. 21 The recycling market is polypropylene castings, lead in used plates and other battery components. The battery acid is made neutral and made into sodium sulfate before being sold for laundry soap, textile manufacturing, and glass. The reason for the high rate of success is contributed to the ease of returning when purchasing a new battery and the increased value of lead and plastic components of the used battery itself.
Public Awareness and Education
The public has a lack of knowledge, lack of resources, and varying misconceptions about the kinds of batteries to recycle. We rely on communities and nonprofits to make consumers aware of what to do, why to do it, how to participate, and where to recycle batteries. Teachers can inform the youngest of consumers in their science classes through education.
Thenonprofit rechargeable battery and cell phone program, Call2Recyle, has partnered with tool giant DeWALT, Lowe's Home Improvement Stores, Staples, and RadioShack, to launch an awareness campaign to educate the consumers and businesses alike, about the ease and importance of diverting more than one million pounds of batteries from ever reaching landfills. According to Carl Smith the CEO for Call2Recyle, millions of batteries are not being recycled because people don't know they can be or where to take them for recycling. 22
Public education and participation are keys to any recycling program. A public education program can heighten awareness and involve more individuals and businesses, and increase the number of batteries collected. Like all manufactured products, however, batteries have impacts on the environment at every stage of their life cycle. The metals used to manufacture batteries are non-renewable finite resources, and mining and processing of metal ores is also energy-intrusive. Batteries also have environmental impacts at the end of their life. While most automotive batteries are currently recycled, the majority of the smaller dry cell batteries are still going into landfills. The public needs to know the environmental impacts and how the recycling of batteries is linked to the materials they are made of.Cities with diverse ethnic groups face the greatest challenges in securing broad participation and, therefore, must typically spend more on recycling education.
Battery Types
Primary Batteries
Primary batteries are classified as single use batteries. Most household batteries are used for consumer goods such as telephones, flashlights, radios, watches, toys, and computers. There are five common primary-cell batteries: alkaline-manganese, carbon-zinc, zinc-air, mercuric-oxide, and silver-oxide. The most commonly used household battery is the alkaline-manganese (see figure 1 25).
Secondary Batteries
Secondary batteries are classified as rechargeable batteries and can be charged over and over again. The most common secondary-cell or rechargeable battery is the nickel-cadmium battery which is commonly found in rechargeable appliances. Common uses are rechargeable appliances, portable power tools, hand-held vacuums, camcorders, cellular phones, and lawn mower starters (see figure 2 26).
Applications of Rechargeable Batteries
According to Deoittle Consulting Company reports, it is estimated that there will be a 2-5% electric vehicle market share by 2020. One can argue that a strong increase in renewables could result in such cheap electricity the consumers would jump to buy electric vehicles. But energy renewable sources are not cheap, and even the government's projection of U.S. renewables as a percentage of totals of electric generation is just 14% by 2035. 2 4
Rechargeable and Responsible Choices
One way to reduce the number of batteries in the waste stream is to purchase rechargeable batteries, period. Consumers need to actively participate in a rechargeable recycling program.
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