spent batteries

[hydrology_joe]

I am just trying to find out what everyone does with their spent batteries. I was recycling mine at the county household hazardous waste site until I found out that they just containerize them in 55gal drums and ship them to the landfill. Has anyone found a recycling company that actually recycles the batteries?

My biggest concern is the leaching of heavy metals out of the batteries into the environment. I know that there are only trace quantites of the heavy metals in a battery, but considering the anoxic & acidic environment of landfill leachate, the metals are mobilized quite easily. The EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels for the metals are in the parts-per-billion range (Arsenic 10ppb, Cadmium 5ppb, Lead 15ppb, Mercury 5ppb, Selenium 50ppb)

[Scott McCrea]

I looked into this a while back. My hope was to take a bucket to grotto meetings and have members deposit spent batteries in it. Then send the bucket to a recycler. I never found a recycler. I only found places that would 'properly' dispose of them. I ended up switching everything to NiMH rechargables.

Here's the links I found way back when...
http://www.rawmaterials.com/rmcproducts.htm
http://www.batteryrecycling.com/index.html
http://www.idrc.ca/industry/brazil_e6.html

[David_Campen]

The EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels for the metals are in the parts-per-billion range (Arsenic 10ppb, Cadmium 5ppb, Lead 15ppb, Mercury 5ppb, Selenium 50ppb)

I wonder if that is any higher than levels for other materials sent to the dump?

I suspect that any attempt at recycling alkaline batteries would produce more pollution than it would prevent.

[wendy]

Scott that's a great idea to use rechargable batteries. You can get a charger pretty cheap at walmart too. That's what I use for my camera.

[hydrology_joe]

I wonder if that is any higher than levels for other materials sent to the dump?

David, Those are the EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels for drinking water. You can check specific MCLs at the EPA Website

Currently I work in soil & groundwater remediation at closed landfills & contaminated drycleaner sites (among other duties and hence the screen name). So that is what spawned the interest. I have been blindly "recycling" my spent batteries (both alkaline and lithium) at the county HHW facility until I found out what they do with them. My own searching for battery recycling yielded that only lead-acid batteries can be recycled efficiently. I was just wondering what everyone else was doing with their spent batteries.

I plan on switching to NiMH for my electric lights but rely mainly on my for most of my caving.

[Dan Sullivan]

Our grotto uses pailmail, and has for several years now. We take it out of the grotto funds.

http://www.batteryrecycling.com/pailmail.html

We have the smaller bucket and send it in about four times a year. They supposedly use it in the manufacture on rebar.

Alkaline / Zinc Carbon Batteries
Zero Added Mercury (<.025% by weight mercury):

The batteries are shredded and given a slight acid bath to neutralize the electrolyte. This material is run through a rotary kiln to dry. At this point, carbon steel turnings are blended in at a ratio of 20-40 parts to 1 part of battery material. This blended material is pressed into bricks which are magnetic. This material is transported to a steel mill for processing. In the furnace of the steel mill, the zinc from the battery is fumed off into a vacuum baghouse for recovery and resale as zinc-oxide. The manganese dioxide becomes an alloy in the production of re-bar steel.



http://www.batteryrecycling.com/alkalinezinc.html

[hank moon]

Our grotto uses pailmail, and has for several years now. We take it out of the grotto funds.

http://www.batteryrecycling.com/pailmail.html

Petzl America uses this same company. We get tons of alkaline batteries back lamps returned for warranty inspection, repair, etc. Good service. I would be surprised if most cavers aren't using rechargeables. Hmmm...poll fodder?

[bsignorelli]

That PailMail system is interesting. I've got a bucket going already here at the house just waiting for a solution like this.

I think I'll bring this up at the next grotto meeting and even if someone balks at the $8 I think I'll spring for that out of my own pocket.

[Mike Rz]

Radio Shack sells Ni-MH AA batteries that can be recharged in 15 minutes. Its the same battery technology used in the hybrid vehicles so there is unlimited recharges and no battery memory. The batteries cost ~4/$14 and the charger is ~$28 w/ 2 batteries. Scientific tests performed in my desk drawer indicate 4 hr life in a Mini Mag AA and 6hr in a 3AA Petzl Zoom. I forgot I was performing an LED test. Combined with my car's plug-in 12V/115VAC inverter its a great technology.

[NZcaver]

Radio Shack sells Ni-MH AA batteries that can be recharged in 15 minutes. Its the same battery technology used in the hybrid vehicles so there is unlimited recharges and no battery memory. The batteries cost ~4/$14 and the charger is ~$28 w/ 2 batteries. Scientific tests performed in my desk drawer indicate 4 hr life in a Mini Mag AA and 6hr in a 3AA Petzl Zoom. I forgot I was performing an LED test. Combined with my car's plug-in 12V/115VAC inverter its a great technology.

I also prefer using rechargeables to disposables, and have been for years. With current rechargeable technologies, I don't understand why so many people (and cavers) still use alkalines/lithiums. I can see why they get installed in emergency items are seldom used, but not in lights, cameras, and other gadgets.
Anyone ever heard of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?

If you check around, you should find much better deals for NiMHs and chargers than what Radio Shack offers. Wal-Mart, for example, sells a 4x 2300 mAH pack of AAs for under $10 - and I'm sure you'll find even better deals on line. For what it's worth, I have a $20 Radio Shack 12-hour charger that has done me well for about 5 years.

I do think your "unlimited recharges" comment is a bit optimistic. All batteries have a finite life and/or maximum number of recharges, even NiMHs. And in my experience, the fast chargers (< 1-hour) tend to kill NiMHs much quicker than the regular overnight chargers. Other people's experiences may vary, but I think I'll stick with slow chargers for now.


As for that PailMail system - great idea! I guess $8 a pail is OK, but they must kill you on the shipping. Though I do wonder why the US consumer should have to pay to recycle something. I would think that's just one more reason for the Average Joe NOT to bother recycling.

[Lava]

I also prefer using rechargeables to disposables, and have been for years. With current rechargeable technologies, I don't understand why so many people (and cavers) still use alkalines/lithiums.

I use alkaline AAs in my backup light on my helmet. The problem is my main light, which runs on rechargeable lithium-ion packs, is so reliable I never turn my backup light on. In the past I have found that rechargeable AA cells lose their charge quickly sitting in a backup light unused, compared to alkaline AAs. But the last time I tried this was over 10 years ago, so maybe I should give it another shot now that the technology has likely improved. How long do your unused rechargeable AAs keep their charge?

[David_Campen]

I use alkaline and Lithium AA cells still so I am not real up to date on NiMH AA battery technology but AFAIK

the disadvantages of NiMH are:

1) Self discharge rates as high 15%/month

2) Damaged by being discharged to too low a voltage

3) Do not perform as well when cold as Lithium AA cells; but probably better than alkaline.

4) Are heavier than Lithium AA cells; but about the same as alkaline.

5) Less energy content than Lithium AA; but better than alkaline especially for moderate to high discharge rates.

Manufacturers are working to produce NiMH batteries with much lower self discharge rates but it comes at some reduction in energy content.

If cost is no object then Lithium AAs are superior but if you don't mind charging the cells a few days before use and carrying some extra weight then NiMH could save a lot of money over Lithium and provide better performance than alkaline.

The one problem with NiMH that I would want to know more about is that I have heard that they are damaged by too deep of a discharge.

[ethan]

Petzl America uses this same company. We get tons of alkaline batteries back lamps returned for warranty inspection, repair, etc. Good service. I would be surprised if most cavers aren't using rechargeables. Hmmm...poll fodder?

You should do a quick test on all the returned cells and sort out the good ones. I've been caving on "reused" alkaline cells for years now. It's amazing how many people will throw away cells after only a bit of use. As long as I'm not caving in a place where battery changes are inconvenient or impossible, I'll always start a day on a set of used batteries.

Ethan

[JackW]

***Temporary Thread Hi-jack Alert***

Currently I work in soil & groundwater remediation at closed landfills & contaminated drycleaner sites (among other duties and hence the screen name).

Ah, I do hazardous waste management and permit compliance for a "mid-sized" manufacturing/repairer and lessor of rail cars. I'm a CHMM. You guys hiring? Curious to find out what company you work for. Care to PM me?

[/hi-jack]

Our grotto uses pailmail, and has for several years now. We take it out of the grotto funds.

http://www.batteryrecycling.com/pailmail.html

As to the pail-mail on batteries, that does sound like an interesting idea.

[NZcaver]

I use alkaline AAs in my backup light on my helmet. The problem is my main light, which runs on rechargeable lithium-ion packs, is so reliable I never turn my backup light on. In the past I have found that rechargeable AA cells lose their charge quickly sitting in a backup light unused, compared to alkaline AAs. But the last time I tried this was over 10 years ago, so maybe I should give it another shot now that the technology has likely improved. How long do your unused rechargeable AAs keep their charge?

I can understand using non-rechargeables in backup lights - which might fall under the category of seldom-used-emergency-devices. I use NiMHs in both my main and backups, and never have a problem (all the lighting on my electric setup is LED).

If you last tried rechargeables 10 years ago, perhaps you should give them another chance? Were AA etc NiMHs even invented 10 years ago? If so, they certainly didn't have the capacity they do today. And if not, you are probably thinking of NiCads - which are truly useless.

All I know is that I can overnight recharge my 4xAA 2300 mAH Energizer NiMHs after a trip, put them back in the headlamp (a Petzl Duo 8 LED), and use it a month later on a 12 hour plus trip with no problems. Sometimes I even leave them in for day two! (By which time they do inevitably need changing.) I also carry spare NiMHs, and 4xLithium AAs "just in case" (I've never used those).

Occasionally I swap my headlamp NiMHs into my camera, which chews batteries a little faster on some trips. Much more important to have a working digital camera than a good light - right?

I'm not sure of the facts and figures on NiMH discharge rates, be I see David quoted up to 15% per month. I don't think mine discharge that quick, but if they do - it doesn't seem to cause me any problems. And you can always recharge them the night before caving, anyway. With my regulated LEDs I don't believe over-discharging is even a factor. As I mentioned previously, in my experience fast-charging (frying) NiMHs kills them quicker than anything else.

Cold conditions haven't seemed to be a problem either (but admittedly I don't often use them below freezing). The weight of NiMHs (comparable to Alkalines) doesn't concern me, and the voltage difference I have learned to live with - the regulated LED seems to handle things fine. I should note that I now use a 1 watt side-emitting LED in the high beam of the Duo, because the old halogen bulb was all-but-useless after a short period of use on NiMHs. (I used to barely use the high beam, but now it's part of an efficient system again.)
I like Ethan's plan for re-using alkalines - I used to do the same thing before switching to NiMHs.