Battery collection

It has been common practice for many years to collect and recycle spent lead-acid batteries because of their value as a major source of lead units. This has led to highly developed operations whereby batteries are collected, sorted, and delivered to the secondary smelter for recovery of the lead and other materials of value. 

The high recycle rate in developing countries is supported by the scrap prices, which, even in western terms, are very high. In China, spent automotive batteries are purchased for US 270 300 per tonne, compared with an equivalent of US 80 90 per tonne in Europe and US 60-80 in Australia. This creates a strong demand for all types of lead acid batteries, including small 6-V and 12-V VRLA batteries. Western countries are still devising collection schemes to recover batteries of this size, which is a challenging task due to their low per-unit value and wide dispersion. 

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To reduce or eliminate the scattering of cadmium in the environment, the disposal of nickel —cadmium batteries is under study. Already a large share of industrial batteries are being reclaimed for the value of their materials. Voluntary battery collection and reclaiming efforts are under way in both Europe and Japan. However the collection of small batteries is not without difficulties. Consideration is being given to deposit approaches to motivate battery returns for collection and reclamation. 

Mercury oxide and silver oxide button batteries are sometimes collected by jewelers, pharmacies, hospitals, and electronic or hearing aid stores for shipping them to companies that reclaim mercury or silver. Some batteries cannot be recycled. If recycling is not possible, batteries should be saved for disposing of at a hazardous waste collection. Battery recycling and button battery collection may be good options at present, but may change as the mercury concentration in the majority of button batteries continues to decrease. 

Batteries may be taken to a household-hazardous-waste collection or a local battery collection program. One can also contact the battery manufacturer for other disposal options or for information on collection programs. If disposal is the only option, and the household batteries are not banned from the permitted landfill in the area, one should protect the batteries for disposal by placing them in a sturdy plastic bag in a sturdy container to help guard against leakage. Waste batteries should not be burned because of the metals that could explode. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.12... 

The most appropriate concept to evaluate the success of spent batteries collection campaigns or programs is the collection efficiency that is based on measured data like the quantity of batteries present in waste (municipal solid and other industrial waste) and the quantity collected on a national basis from the various collection sources (national, private, etc). 

The most appropriate concept to evaluate the success of spent battery collection campaigns or programs is the collection efficiency that is based on measured data the... 

A smaller fraction (400 tonnes/year) of portable Ni-Cd batteries collected by industrial waste management companies is either processed with industrial waste and treated for recycling in non-dedicated processes like steel and lead recycling plants, or introduced legally in landfills according to local authorization procedures. 

According to the model developed on the basis of a quantity of 800 tonnes per year of Ni-Cd batteries collected in MSW, it can be observed from the analysis of Figure 22 that 23.8 toimes of cadmium are processed in MSW incinerators in the EU countries. 

Sorting Ni-Cd batteries from collected streams is a critical operation for those composition where zinc batteries are dominating. Industrial sorting technologies are in operation in Europe (Euro Bat Tri - 2000 and Wiaux -2000) but not in all eountries and not with the same efficieney. It is believed that a significant fraction of Ni-Cd batteries collected are still processed with zinc batteries and are not accounted separately. 

Germany ARGE-BAT VA(1) 88 X X X X X All battery collection since april 1998... 

For portable rechargeable batteries that are incorporated in pieces of equipment, the consumer is not willing to separate the rechargeable battery from the equipment. If this equipment has a potential life of more than ten years on the market, the amount of spent batteries collected will be very low. 

In this equation, Q. accurec, Q- snam, Q. saft represent the quantities of used batteries collected in various EU memhers states and effectively processed at SNAM, SAFT and ACCUREC that are the officially known recycling plants. Any other quantity processed at a new recycling plant could he included in this equation as Q. recycler ... 

STIBAT is controlling the market introduction of all batteries with a weight inferior to 1 kg. It has also the control of 100% of spent batteries collected by municipalities, professionals and private collection systems. In order to evaluate the flow of batteries escaping the collection circuit, in 1998 STIBAT has organised a campaign to measure the quantity of spent batteries present in MSW streams in the Netherlands. The application of formula 3 to the case of the Netherlands leads to a collection rate of 77% for used Ni-Cd batteries as illustrated in Table 5. 

Uniform Battery Labeling Requirements Removeability of Batteries from Appliances National Network of Collection Systems Regulatory Relief to Facilitate NiCd Battery Collection Widespread Publicity to Encourage Public Participation Development of a Funding Mechanism for the Program... 

The effectiveness of the RBRC program is demonstrated most clearly in the amounts of NiCd batteries collected for recycling in the program over the six years. These data are summarized in Figure 2. 

Figure 2. Nickel-Cadmium Batteries Collected for Recycling in North America...

Used Battery Collection and Recycling G, Pistoia, J.-P. Wiaux and S.P. Wolsky (Editors) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved. 

A successM used Ni-Cd battery collection program requires support from several economic sectors and entities that operate a variety of convenient collection points -- retailers, product service centers, municipalities, and institutional generators. 

Streamlining requirements for Ni-Cd battery collection and transportation is not inconsistent with applying stringent hazardous waste regulatory controls to the facility that recycles them. 

Well-established Ni-Cd battery recycling plants are operational in France, Germany and Sweden. These plants, one of which has been in operation since 1977, recover the cadmium, nickel and iron from batteries collected throughout Europe and elsewhere across the world. 

In 1996, a group of cellular phone manufacturers organized two year pilot programs to collect end-of-life cellular phones and the batteries that power them in the U.K. and Sweden. The group operated under the auspices of the European Trade Organization for the Telecommunications and Professional Electronics Industry (ECTEL). Many of the collected batteries were Ni-Cds which, in the case of the batteries collected in the U.K., were sent to France for recycling at SNAM. 

The trial program was funded by a 0,156 (USS 0.1017) levy on each battery sold, which in turn funded all batteries collected. TTie new national program will involve a higher levy. The new levy will be 1.00 (US 0.6518) per handset sold, or 0.45 (US ... 

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