Batteries Not Included

A letter from Wayne Elliot, founder of Raw Materials Company

(Raw Materials Company recycled all the batteries collected in the Port Perry blitz, including the non-rechargeable ones)

Since Raw Materials Company was founded almost 18 years ago, approx 3 million tons of consumer, or "household" batteries have been buried in North America. Unfortunately, the huge majority of these small, innocent looking, corrosive, toxic metal batteries, continue to be landfilled as in the past, together with the balance of household trash, in our unprotected municipal landfills. Mixed consumer batteries contain metals including zinc, cadmium, lead, mercury & lithium. These "dry cell" batteries also contain corrosive electrolytes.

There are more than 250,000 tons of consumer batteries produced annually for North American consumption alone (10 large ships, or 9000 transport trucks loaded to capacity). Millions of tons are buried already & greater quantities are buried each year, in this age of high tech devices & electronics. As the metal carcasses are breached over time, the contents are set free into our environment, at a steadily increased pace & tonnage.

Although most batteries have greatly reduced mercury content today (compared to those mfg. in the past), many tons are still used. Mercury remains the most toxic metal to humans & many other species on earth.

Cadmium, (the earth's second most toxic metal to humans), continues to be used in many millions of devices today, powered by nickel cadmium batteries. Collection efforts to date fail to capture the majority of these waste batteries as well.

Collection presents some challenge, as consumer waste batteries are generated at the rate of less than 2 pounds, per household per year. Collection has been the favored excuse in the past, to ignore the problem.

Blue box programs to date have not been interested, as most of the battery cells are of no resale value. Space on collection trucks is another reason given for not collecting spent batteries via these programs. Notwithstanding, a small pail would likely suffice for each days collection of household batteries. We have long believed the blue box program could be a very efficient collection method. The average household would produce a small sandwich bag of battery cells approx twice each year.

It seems unreasonable, we put forth the effort to recycle valuable items (ie; aluminum cans, paper, glass), wisely sustaining natural resources & conserving energy, but continue to fail to protect ourselves from deadly toxins right in our communities, at local landfill sites.

Once collected, the miscellaneous battery types can be sorted & safely recycled, for approx. $2.00 per HOUSEHOLD per YEAR.

It remains our belief Canadians would be willing to pay $2.00 to $3.00 total cost, per household each year, knowing thousands of tons of corrosive metals are not leaching through to the groundwater, for future generations to suffer.

Humans cannot sustain themselves by eating these batteries, so why do we continue to accept that our children & grandchildren consume them in future?

As with other destructive behavior we have adopted (ie; overfishing, clear cutting forests, emissions causing global warming, etc), nature is unable to keep up & maintain our environment as it is meant to be, nor can it deal with concentrated pockets of corrosive toxins across the country & around the world.

Decisive action is long overdue & while we continue to wrangle over the issues, approx 600 tons of consumer batteries are landfilled in North America each and every day.


Wayne Elliott
Founder
Raw Materials Company
Div./ International Marine Salvage Inc.
Port Colborne, Canada.

Posted on October 31, 2007
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