Modern man intensively uses a variety of electronic gadgets, most of which are powered by batteries. Even the most capacious and technologically advanced battery eventually depletes its capacity and must be replaced. In this case, the waste must be put away somewhere or, in modern terms, disposed of. The first natural reaction is to just throw it in the trash can. However, in this matter, everything is far from simple.
Battery disposal problem - where it comes from
The principle of operation of a battery or a galvanic cell is based on the use of chemical reactions taking place inside its case. To increase the efficiency of an element, its creator in a special way selects materials, the interaction of which determines the ongoing electrochemical processes. Among them there are such heavy chemical elements as mercury, nickel, cadmium and some others, which are quite toxic substances.
A used battery, thrown into an ordinary trash can, ends up at a landfill. Under the influence of moisture, its metal body quickly collapses (an example is shown in Figure 1) and poisonous heavy metal compounds enter the soil, from where groundwater is carried throughout the surrounding environment.
Further, all these pollution through plants and various aquatic and land animals enter the human table.
The peculiarity of heavy metals is that their compounds:
- do not collapse under the influence of the temperature at which food is cooked;
- over time accumulate in the human body, slowly poisoning it.
For example, lead affects the central nervous system. Mercury, even in small concentrations, acts on the kidneys. Cadmium is a powerful carcinogen for the liver, thyroid gland and bone marrow.
The situation is not rescued by the processing of waste in incinerators. High temperatures convert heavy metals into dioxins, which also contaminate the environment.
This immediately leads to the task of separating used batteries from ordinary household waste. This fact is marked with a special intuitive sign, Figure 2, which is applied to the battery case.
Ways to solve the problem
The problem of reducing the environmental burden from batteries can be solved in two main ways.
The first way of them is obvious and consists in a separate collection with subsequent processing using special technology. The corresponding programs have been legislatively introduced in some developed countries. For this, special containers are installed in stores.
In Russia, this route is still voluntary, although containers similar or similar to those shown in Figure 3 have recently become more common.
Second way - Reducing the number of discarded batteries. To do this, they are given the properties of a battery, i.e. they allow a number of charging cycles. In particular, the well-known company IKEA took this path.