Discarding Lithium Batteries

These are basically lithium batteries that are damaged; this means that these batteries are not able to function normally like before. The damaging of lithium batteries is caused by various factors, these includes; exposing your batteries to heat, lithium ion batteries are not good with excess heat, when they get exposed to such conditions they will spoil, another thing is poor storage, if the batteries are stored poorly, they might get destroyed, lithium batteries are easily oxidized if they are stored with high voltages and at high temperatures or if exposed to dampness. This means you should be very careful when you handle the batteries. Know the right places to store them, how long to charge them and what voltage is necessary.

How do you deal with discarding lithium batteries?

There are two ways you can apply in dealing with these batteries, this would be either you dispose the batteries or you recycle the batteries, of these method are effective and they have their advantages and disadvantages. Let’s check these methods in details.

· Recycling of batteries

Lithium batteries can have adverse effect when they are not taken care of once they get damaged, it is not advisable to throw these batteries just anywhere, this is because the batteries contains heavy metals which are very harmful to human health, for this reason lithium batteries cannot be disposed in the land, this is because when they corrode, they will be washed away to the water sources which will come back in drinking water, so land filling them is not an option.

Two, it is also dangerous to incinerate the lithium batteries by yourself; this is hazardous to the environment and your health too. Here the option you can then take is to recycle them. You can take your batteries to recycling plants so that they can do that job. This looks like it is the safest method of dealing with discarding batteries. However this method is not commonly used by very many people because it is expensive, it costs a lot hence only a few people who can manage it can use it; this gives another alternative which is simply disposing them.

· Disposing damaged batteries

This is another alternative way of dealing with damaged batteries, it is cheap, I mean it doesn’t even cost a thing. Lithium batteries cannot be disposed in just these normal trashes or be buried in the land; this is because they will end up causing a great effect to the environment, for this reason there are specific points that the disposal is done. There are places like the hazardous collection facilities or the waste collecting services which can help you with picking up your damaged batteries. These batteries are then taken for incineration in special places that it can be done without polluting the environment, or they can be taken for recycling in the recycling plants.

These two ways can help you deal with your damaged batteries.

Are discarding lithium batteries hazardous waste?

Lithium batteries that are discarded in the ground or in the trash have very adverse effects on the environment and on human health too. This is because of the heavy metal they contain which is lithium, this will have an effect if it enters human body, and below here are some of the hazards that come as a result of discarding these kinds of batteries include;

· Water pollution

This is the most common effect of discarding lithium batteries to the land. The effect comes when the batteries starts corroding and the toxic substances enter the soil, as a result, these substances are eroded away to the water sources, these include; rivers, lakes and oceans. These are very harmful to the marine life and the life of people too.

· Soil pollution.

When the discarded batteries are disposed in the land they will eventually release some toxic substances contained in them to the soli, as a result there will be a large amount of toxic substances. These toxic substances have a harmful effect to the crops grown and the health of people.

· Air pollution

When the batteries get dumped in the ground they will start decomposing after sometime, this is because they get exposed to dumpiness in the soil. The decomposition process causes the emission of greenhouse gasses which will bring about the greenhouse effect that causes global warming.

Where can I throw away discarding lithium batteries?

Disposal of lithium batteries entirely depends on the regulations that are put in place by your respective country or state, some countries have come up with regulations that will hinder you from disposing these batteries just anywhere, and they are disposed at specific places so that they may be taken for recycling or incineration. However there are general safety measures that you need to take as an individual when it comes to disposing lithium batteries, these are places suitable for throwing lithium batteries;

· Take them to waste collection facility

These are facilities put in place by the state to help collect hazardous materials instead of dumping them in the environment; you can take them to this place when you feel they cannot work anymore.

· Take them to recycling plants

If you end up with lithium batteries which are not working, you should take an initiative taking them to recycling plants so that they can be recycled to keep the environment safe.

· Call in waste collectors

There are companies which do waste collection, if you have these lithium batteries which cannot work anymore you should call in waste collectors to pick them. If they cannot access you, they will give you a direction on where to drop the package for them to pick.

It is very important to try to dispose lithium battery waste in the right places to avoid facing the hazards they bring when they decompose.