How many times have you walked out of a supermarket and noticed a transparent tube overflowing with a random mix of batteries? Your first thought may be that this is just a money-making exercise that supermarkets do to make money from the scrap materials. Every little helps, as the saying goes.
Well, hold that thought. Contrary to the assumption of profiteering, supermarkets have an obligation to provide battery recycling facilities, mandated under the government Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. It’s not just about making a quick quid; it’s about adhering to legal requirements. Any company introducing over 32 kg of batteries into the UK market must, by law, offer some form of free battery recycling.
Toxic reality
Why the fuss? Let’s delve into the nitty-gritty. Understanding the significance of proper battery disposal extends beyond merely fulfilling recycling quotas; it’s a crucial measure to prevent environmental degradation. Batteries, classified under the WEEE Directive, are not meant for landfill disposal. Yet they often end up there. It’s the unfortunate reality of their small size – they’re easily overlooked. Replace the two AA batteries in your mouse and it’s tempting to toss them straight into the bin. Harmless, right?
Not quite. Those seemingly innocuous batteries are loaded with toxic materials such as zinc, nickel, mercury and iron, each harbouring the potential to inflict significant harm on the environment. Zinc, for instance, isn’t exactly a blessing to human health if it seeps into the environment, contaminating groundwater or polluting the air.
And then there’s mercury, a genuine ecosystem annihilator. Its ability to bioaccumulate means it steadily builds up in the tissues of living organisms as it ascends the food chain, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. The longevity of mercury means it can even poison ecosystems far from where it was originally released. It’s not just about ticking boxes on recycling quotas. It’s about preventing environmental catastrophes and protecting future generations.
Live impact
Lithium batteries are a whole other ballgame. You’ve probably heard about lithium fires being difficult to handle – that’s because of a process called thermal runaway. Lithium is highly reactive and can ignite spontaneously when it comes into contact with either air or water. It can react vigorously and there are some scary YouTube videos of this happening.
Once this happens, thermal runaway takes over and the heat generated by the battery’s internal reactions causes further chemical reactions to occur more rapidly, releasing additional heat. This creates a positive feedback loop, leading to a swift increase in temperature. This thermal runaway is why it is so difficult to extinguish lithium fires – the more water, the more vigorously the lithium can react. Due to this reaction with water, these fires are often left to burn out, releasing many hazardous by-products and exacerbating the environmental dangers.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s just lithium batteries causing such dangerous events. West Northamptonshire Council reportedly experienced 11 incidents in the past 12 months due to carelessly disposed batteries causing fires in their refuse carts, with temperatures reaching up to 800°C.
This issue isn’t isolated to a single council; when the national scale is considered, the potential for such hazardous events multiplies. You can now start to see why councils are running a marketing campaign called Never Bin Batteries and are keen to try to keep batteries separate from the rest of the waste they collect.
Recycling challenge
There’s no hard and fast data for exactly how many batteries are used in the UK. A report by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) in 2015 estimated that approximately 610 million consumer batteries were sold in the UK each year. Throwing out your two AA batteries might not be a lot, but multiply that by our 70 million population and we’ve got a problem.
So, are we doomed? Not quite. Battery recycling is efficient, with levels of almost 98% for certain types of battery chemistries. Many facilities employ cutting-edge technology, including automatic sorting systems equipped with sensors and specialised software, making the whole process highly sophisticated.
The energy consumed in extracting and refining raw materials far exceeds that required for recycling. By closing the loop through recycling, we not only conserve energy but also slash the greenhouse gas emissions associated with resource extraction and production.
Your ‘normal’ day-to-day alkaline batteries have their materials efficiently separated and repurposed. For lithium batteries, valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel and copper are extracted for reuse. As a side note, cobalt stands out as being a difficult and unsustainable material to mine.
The quest for sustainable lithium battery recycling has piqued the interest of significant entities, including the US Department of Energy, which has launched highly lucrative competitions aimed at innovating the recycling process.
These competitions challenge participants to develop methods capable of recycling at least 90% of lithium from batteries. Phase 3 of the project, for which winning teams were awarded a total of $2.4 million, is now complete. The award for the next and final phase is a staggering total of up to $5 million.
Close the loop
So how can businesses help? As highlighted earlier, UK legislation mandates that any business introducing over 32 kg of batteries into the market annually must provide a free recycling scheme. To put this into perspective, selling one single pack of four AA batteries each day equates to approximately 32 kg across the year and includes any batteries sold online as well as from physical retail premises.
You may be thinking that this will cost thousands to implement, but actually, the National Battery Collection Scheme is completely free for businesses.
The initiative offers guides on the different types of batteries, a container to collect the batteries in, information on how to manage their storage and literature on how to raise awareness of battery recycling to others – all at no cost. It’s a very positive, extra service for your business to offer. It will also set you apart from other companies that don’t understand the impact and importance of battery recycling.
For more information, visit the National Battery Collection Scheme
Carl Stevens is General Manager of H-Squared
