Recycling small Batteries
-
a Problem in Human Motivation
The
explosion in the use of small electrical and electronic devices
and toys, many of them carried about in pockets has led to an considerable
increase in the use of both primary
batteries,
that is for a single use only, and small rechargeable batteries.
Just to give an example of magnitude, there are more than
60 million mobile phones in the UK, each of which will contain a
small rechargeable battery, which sooner or later wears out.
I
have just turned out my pockets and my briefcase and I have a lithium
primary battery in my watch, a lithium rechargeable battery in my
mobile phone and another in my camera, three AAA batteries in an
LED torch, a biggish lithium battery in my laptop and a rather special
lithium battery in the Pacemaker in my chest. (I do not intend to
recycle the last one for several years!)
Batteries,
other than large car batteries, which have long been traded-in to
recover the lead content and neutralise the acid, are currently
only
recycled to a very small extent, by specialised firms, probably
well below 4% of all batteries used in households.
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