Disposal of batteries is vital and while many fail to do it properly, a group from Utah strives to keep bad batteries away from landfills. The Pale Blue group is working towards switching single use batteries with rechargeable batteries. This way they can prevent wrong disposal of batteries.

According to Cirba Solutions Recycling Services, Americans throw away more than 10 million batteries every day and many end up in landfills. To cater to the problem, one Utah group is trying to keep these batteries out of landfills.

People are unaware of the fact that putting batteries in landfills is endangering land and human health simultaneously. Edward Larrant, a lab pack chemist at the Salt Lake County Health Department, explained the dangers of lithium batteries after they are discarded and said, “That lithium and what they’re made out of lithium, nickel, cadmium, they all could potentially get into the environment and would be harmful to water for animals.”

Yes, this is the same battery that you have in all rechargeable devices like phones, tablets, and computers. Once these dangerous chemicals enter the environment humans and animals are at risk because their bodies absorb toxic elements which in turn affect their kidneys and liver.

It is necessary to take lithium batteries for recycling to a household hazardous waste facility, free of charge. At the same time, talking about alkaline batteries, they can be safely disposed of in regular trash.

Edward Larrant further explained in this matter, “Alkaline batteries can be thrown away in the regular trash. It’s magnesium in the middle, and it just turns in the dirt basically. It’s not hazardous.”

However, the decision on how to safely dispose of alkaline batteries is based on which state you live in. Larrant in this context said, “The federal government lists alkaline batteries as nonhazardous. The state of California has chosen to label alkaline batteries as hazardous waste, so they don’t go into the trash and into the landfill. However, Utah and several other states adhere to the government’s definition of nonhazardous or alkaline batteries.”

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Salt Lake County Household Hazardous Waste Facility recycled alkaline batteries, but during the pandemic this facility went out of business.

Pale Blue is an organization based in Park City that is working towards substituting single-use batteries with rechargeable lithium batteries. About 250 pounds of batteries were collected by the organization and while it may seem nothing but still it is a step towards changing habits. In this way, a group from Utah strives to keep bad batteries away from landfills.

Also Read: With $20.5 Million Green Li-Ion is All Recharged to Scale up its Battery Recycling Tech

CEO of Pale Blue, Thomas Bishop believes that lithium batteries are the future, and in this context, he said, “He believes alkaline batteries actually can be dangerous to the environment. Certainly no one would say it would be okay at large concentrations, the landfills wouldn’t go for that. But once you’ve put that many batteries into a landfill, whether in large concentration or not, it seems like a risky scenario for potential leaching and groundwater contamination. We’re in the Lithium-ion Age, the guys who created it won the Nobel Prize, I think for good reason.”

Source: Waste Advantage Magazine

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Elliot is a passionate environmentalist and blogger who has dedicated his life to spreading awareness about conservation, green energy, and renewable energy. With a background in environmental science, he has a deep understanding of the issues facing our planet and is committed to educating others on how they can make a difference.

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