Battery future
Introduction
Batteries are used every day in a variety of different devices. They allow us to charge an object and store power for later use. While batteries are a big part of daily human life they also present a challenge to society in terms of environmental sustainability. Not only do these batteries have harmful chemicals which can end up in landfills, but they also encourage over consumption because the more products you buy, the more batteries you need, and the more batteries must be produced. Most batteries are not created and disposed of in an environmentally sustainable manner. For this reason we have come up with three ways in which one could reduce the environmental impact of batteries: waste management, alternative batteries, and alternative power sources.
Waste Management Waste management is a big part of the problem when it comes to the environmental impacts of batteries. Batteries account for a disproportionate amount of toxic heavy metal waste in household solids. Many of these toxic heavy metals are on the USA Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals (BPTs) and have huge environmental impacts; therefore, it would be beneficial to mitigate their use. However, in the short-term at the very least, these batteries are going to continue to exist. For this reason, the best way to mitigate the harms of their continued use is to improve the rate at which they are recycled by expanding the number of locations that recycle batteries and by encouraging the involvement of manufacturers in this process.
To improve the rate at which batteries are recycled one must improve the accessibility to recycling centers. If people are not able to locate and conveniently access a place that recycles batteries, they will not recycle them. While lead acid batteries have high recycling rates in most countries (although these have their own associated problems which we will get to later), non-lead acid
Batteries are used every day in a variety of different devices. They allow us to charge an object and store power for later use. While batteries are a big part of daily human life they also present a challenge to society in terms of environmental sustainability. Not only do these batteries have harmful chemicals which can end up in landfills, but they also encourage over consumption because the more products you buy, the more batteries you need, and the more batteries must be produced. Most batteries are not created and disposed of in an environmentally sustainable manner. For this reason we have come up with three ways in which one could reduce the environmental impact of batteries: waste management, alternative batteries, and alternative power sources.
Waste Management Waste management is a big part of the problem when it comes to the environmental impacts of batteries. Batteries account for a disproportionate amount of toxic heavy metal waste in household solids. Many of these toxic heavy metals are on the USA Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals (BPTs) and have huge environmental impacts; therefore, it would be beneficial to mitigate their use. However, in the short-term at the very least, these batteries are going to continue to exist. For this reason, the best way to mitigate the harms of their continued use is to improve the rate at which they are recycled by expanding the number of locations that recycle batteries and by encouraging the involvement of manufacturers in this process.
To improve the rate at which batteries are recycled one must improve the accessibility to recycling centers. If people are not able to locate and conveniently access a place that recycles batteries, they will not recycle them. While lead acid batteries have high recycling rates in most countries (although these have their own associated problems which we will get to later), non-lead acid