Battery Pollution Endangers the Evnironment

Batteries are everywhere nowadays. They are in cell phone, electric toothbrush clock and literally in dozens of other devices around home and workplace. However, widespread use of batteries has bring many environmental problems. Of course, chemicals are not all equally toxic. The three worst "baddies" in battery are lead, cadmium and mercury. Other battery compounds like silver, zinc, and nickel can also be problems, but less so.

As we know, batteries don't last forever. The discarded batteries actually created many environmental concerns. Chemicals contain in batteries are a significant source of contaminants. These batteries are divided into several types, each with their own potential toxic elements. The two most common batteries types are alkaline and carbon or zinc. Batteries contain 20-50%of mercury according to Utah Department of Environmental Quality, ''Pollution Prevention Fact Sheet''.
When discarded batteries buried in landfills, batteries casing will corrode. Thus, may causing the mercury leak into land and heavy metal leach into soil and groundwater. Thus eventually into the food chain and drinking water supply. Up to 80% of mercury runoff from landfills is from batteries alone according to Marc Lecard.

What we have to do to all the dead batteries? The proper way is to recycle them. Batteries enable our mobility, so it is likely society will be using lots more batteries in the future. Thus, to ensure that we're not slowly poisoning our environment, it is important that we do a good job of recycling batteries.