Battery Hazard

Battery Hazard

Think about how many batteries are use daily. You use them in your watch, your remotes, laptops, mobile phones, cordless phones, power drills, shavers, clocks, smoke alarms, air conditioners, all children's toys, torches, portable DVD players, digital camera and remote controls. Batteries make life easier! But did you know that batteries actually harm the earth? And did you also know batteries can be recycled?

Australia doesn't make their own batteries, we import them, but they severely impact the Australian environment. Non-rechargeable batteries are made up of numerous harmful items such as zinc, iron, manganese. Rechargeable batteries have lithium, nickel-metal hydride and nickel-cadmium in their mixture. All of these ingredients are dangerous to humans and the environment. These heavy metals can leak into the ground when the battery begins to break apart and this in turn damages out ground, environment and endangers all schemes of wildlife.

Battery World states that more than 8,000 tonnes of batteries end up in landfill each year. The best way to reduce buying so many batteries is by first purchasing rechargeable batteries, this cuts out battery waste. Each rechargeable battery can be recharged up to 1000 times and this not only saves money but saves Australia from pollution. Also when choosing which battery to purchase, choose one that can be recycled!

Australia as a whole does not currently have a national recycling scheme for batteries but all Australian states are working towards a national battery recycling plan.

Mobile Phone batteries are safety removed from harming our environment through Mobile Muster. In regards to normal batteries Western Australia classes batteries as a hazardous waste and they are placed in steel drums. Queensland is yet to implement a battery recycling scheme. Melbourne offers a free recycling service for household batteries. Melbourne residents just drop off their old batteries at shops and they are shipped overseas and the metal is recovered. For more information go to Cleanaway.

We need to work together and recycle all of our batteries so that they don't all end up in landfill and create problems in the future.