Battery recycling

process

Many batteries are thrown away in regular waste after they have been used. Battery recycling is a name of the process of separately collecting such batteries so that they can be disposed of properly. Batteries contain metals such as lead, copper or zinc. In the form that is used in the batteries, these metals are very harmful to the environment - most are toxic. Collecting the batteries allows the extraction of some of the metals, which can then be re-used, not thrown away. The parts that cannot be extracted or re-used are disposed of in a way that is less harmful to the environment. For this reason, many countries have rules that say that a given percentage of all batteries must be re-cycled.

Different kinds of old batteries
A worker is recycling the lead from batteries.

Battery composition by type

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Italics designates button cell types.
Bold designates secondary types.
All figures are percentages; due to rounding they may not add up to exactly 100.

Type[1] Fe Mn Ni Zn Hg Li Ag Cd Co Al Pb Other KOH Paper Plastic Alkali C Acids Water Other
Alkaline 24.8 22.3 0.5 14.9 1.3 1 2.2 5.4 3.7 10.1 14
Zinc-carbon 16.8 15 19.4 0.1 0.8 0.7 4 6 9.2 12.3 15.2
Lithium 50 19 1 2 7 2 19
Mercury-oxide 37 1 1 14 31 2 3 1 3 7
Zinc-air 42 35 1 4 4 1 10 3
Lithium 60 18 1 3 3 2 13
Alkaline 37 23 1 11 0.6 6 2 2 6 14
Silver oxide 42 2 2 9 0.4 31 4 2 1 0.5 2 4
Nickel-cadmium 35 22 15 10 2 5 11
NiMH 20 1 35 1 4 10 9 4 8 8
Li-ion 22 3 18 5 11 13 28
Lead-acid 65 4 10 16 5

References

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  1. Fisher, Karen (18 Oct 2006), Battery Waste Management: Life Cycle Assessment (PDF), Erika Wallén, Pieter Paul Laenen and Michael Collins, Environmental Resources Management, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013, retrieved 11 November 2013