Lead-acid Batteries Top Recycling List

Advanced Battery Technology, Nov 2003

The lead-acid battery industry recycled 97.1% of spent battery lead (10.5 billion pounds) from 1997 to 2001, according to a new report issued by Battery Council International (BCI). The lead-acid battery remains the nation's most recycled consumer product.

The lead-acid battery industry, the country's largest user of lead, has been recycling and reclaiming lead from its spent products for 75 years. Battery Council International, a not-for-profit organization that represents the international lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling industry, has tracked the lead recycling rate from used automotive, truck, motorcycle, marine, garden tractor, and other lead-acid batteries since 1987. Historically, the recycling rate of battery lead has consistently ranked higher than other recyclable commodities.

Along with lead and plastic from spent batteries, lead-acid battery recyclers also reclaim scrap lead from the production process and return the materials to manufacturers. In a continuous cycle, the battery industry reclaims and reuses lead and plastic, keeping these materials out of the waste stream.Between 1945 and 1990, U.S. blood lead averages fell from 28 to 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood while battery production rose from 17 million to almost 65 million units per year. "The lead-acid battery industry has worked with lead for 100 years. We understand its health effects and we know how to protect our employees, our neighbors, and the environment from too much exposure to it," said Keith Wandell, BCI president.

BCI was instrumental in developing model battery recycling laws, now on the books in 37 states, that prohibit the disposal of spent lead-acid batteries and require them to be collected through a take-back program with retailers of new batteries.

For more information visit www.batterycouncil.org.