How do you dispose of your old batteries from your laptop, home smoke detector, flashlight or cars and other types of vehicles? The average consumer has 26 battery-operated devices in the home, but only one in six American households recycle old batteries.
That means most of the nearly 3 billion batteries discarded each year end up in a landfill and cause unnecessary pollution.
In honor of National Recycling Month in April and Earth Day on April 22, Interstate Batteries encourages consumers to bring old batteries to any Interstate All Battery Center location or Interstate Batteries dealer for proper disposal.
“It is important to recycle old batteries to protect our environment,” said Interstate Batteries Technical Services Manager Gale Kimbrough, also known as Mr. Battery. “If not properly recycled, batteries can deposit lead, acid and mercury in lakes, streams and landfills.”
As the No. 1 collector and recycler of lead-acid batteries in the United States, Interstate Batteries accepts all types of household device batteries, as well as vehicle batteries, for recycling at no cost. After drop off at an Interstate Batteries retail or distributor location, spent batteries are taken via safe transport to recycling locations.
“An automobile battery, also referred to as a lead-acid battery, contains about 21 pounds of lead, 3 pounds of plastic and 1 gallon of sulfuric acid, all of which can be toxic if handled improperly,” Kimbrough said. “But these batteries are also about 99% recyclable, which is great news for our environment.”
In addition to the safety and environmental reasons to properly dispose of batteries, there are a number of beneficial applications and uses of the recyclable parts of a battery. The lead is recycled to make lead plates in new batteries, and the reclaimed plastic is used for new plastic covers and cases in the new batteries.
Additionally, during the recycling process, battery acid is neutralized, treated and reused as water. Today’s rechargeable batteries can offer as much as 1,000 times more power than non-recyclable batteries, making them an eco-friendly alternative.
Recycling is a focal point for Interstate Batteries. The company sells more than 17 million batteries each year while Interstate’s recycle rate equals approximately 25 million spent batteries annually.
Because of this high volume of battery recycling, Interstate has created a Green Standard closed-loop recycling process, which applies the highest environmental standards in the industry. It includes training for expert core collection, individual battery inspection and packing to provide safe transport to approved smelters, and tracking for unique accountability.
To find the nearest Interstate All Battery Center or Interstate Batteries dealer, visit www.interstatebatteries.com.