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Re-Energizing Battery Recycling Efforts
An increasing number of private and public buildings in China have set up battery recycling boxes to collect spent batteries in recent years.
However, compared to the more than 15 billion batteries produced in China every year, the recycling effort is just a drop in the bucket, said Wang Jingzhong, vice-chairman of the board of the Chinese Association of Battery Industry.
Most spent batteries have been tossed into landfills with other garbage or littered the ground, polluting the environment.
Heavy metal elements accumulate in the human body, causing damage to the nervous system, kidneys and bones, and may cause cancer, medical experts said.
Since 1998, the Beijing Waste Recycling Center has collected more than 100 tons of batteries, said center officials.
However, yearly sales of batteries in the capital city has reached 3,000 tons.
In 1998, the center collected only 7 tons of batteries. In 1999, the number surged to 60 tons. And in the first half of this year, the center collected more than 50 tons of batteries.
Awareness of recycling and environmental protection has improved, leading to an increase in the amount of batteries collected.
Even with more batteries being collected, they just take up space in store houses as the country has no processing method to treat them.
Germany launched the Batteries Ordinance in April 1998, giving manufacturers total responsibility for their products. Via a common return system, the consumer is obligated to return all batteries regardless of type, manufacturer or retailer.
"With the recycling of batteries, various metal items and other materials, our lives can be improved today while we restore and preserve the environment for generations to come," said Wang.
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