Batteries

Portable energy - The earliest designs for batteries date from over 200 years ago. Today's batteries are more powerful and last longer, capable of providing portable energy in any situation and place.

Their great advantage is the energy they provide us with, in torches, radios and even heart pacemakers. Portable energy for all occasions.

Energy with a high price. Battery energy for use in all kinds of devices is not free. Their great versatility has various downsides that we should be aware of.

	Financial Cost - electricity from batteries is up to 450 times more expensive that the electricity network.
	Environmental Cost - chemical components in batteries are highly contaminating if they are not treated correctly when used.

A complicated family - There are so many different kinds of battery available that it issometimes difficult to choose which one we need. Let's try ....

	Round batteries - no doubt as to what these look like. Ones with mercury are very contaminating. Lithium batteries are an interesting alternative. Just one mercury battery could contaminate all the water that a four person family would drink in a life time!
	Saline batteries - These are the oldest type of modern batteries, made of zinc and carbon. They have been in use for deacdes. They are less powerful and last less, but have a very low content in toxic products. They are among the least contaminating.
	Alcaline batteries - fashionable because they are powerful and long-lasting. They manage this by using mercury, which makes them highly toxic. Some brands have started to substitute mercury for less dangerous products.
	Green batteries - Mercury free or with very little mercury, sometimes called ecobatteries or biobatteries. Their main advantage is that they hardly contaminate. Rechargeable batteries - Once they die they ar still useful as they can be recharged up to 1,000 times, giving a very long life. They are expensive and need a special charger, but in the long term they will become cheaper.

What happens to batteries when they are thrown into containers? Over time their outer coating disintegrates and the inner content is spilt. This can filter through the ground and contaminate underground water or the ground itself, getting into the food chain and thus comnig back to us.

Used batteries require special treatment, separate from other waste.

What can we do to reduce or avoid battery contamination?

	Always buy the right kind of battery for the device in question, and if possible, choose mercury and cadmium free batteries.
	Use rechargeable batteries. You will soon recover the initial investment.
	Use less batteries - use plugs whenever you can.
	Many devices no longer need batteries to work, e.g. calculators that operate with a little solar panel.
	Never throw batteries away with other waste - use the special battery containers.

If you have any doubts about

	Used battery collection
	Requesting a battery container
	Having the container emptied or replaced

please call the 010 telephone service.