Get Yo Green On Tuesday – Dispose of Batteries Properly and Help the Environment

Green Ideas — By Shawna Coronado on October 21, 2008 9:24 pm

The green message of the day is this: batteries contain sufficient amounts of mercury, cadmium and lead to damage the environment if they are not disposed of properly. Currently, there are no completely safe ways of disposing of batteries. We can however, reduce the damage as much as possible and send batteries to special hazardous waste facilities to help protect our communities.

 

According to Environment Health and Safety Online website (www.ehso.com), “In landfills, heavy metals have the potential to leach slowly into soil, groundwater or surface water. Dry cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. In the past, batteries accounted for nearly half of the mercury used in the United States and over half of the mercury and cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.”

Do your part to dispose of hazardous waste properly by collecting your batteries and bringing them to a designated facility. At the my home we have built a homemade disposal container out of a milk jug. Lovely, isn’t it? Milk jugs are great as they have a convenient shaped hole already built in to the top for easy depositing. It is convenient, it is easy, it is a no-brainer – place used batteries in the disposal container and transport to your nearest disposal facility. Do it for yourself and the planet!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community!

Tags: batteries, cadmium, Community, Dispose of Batteries Properly, ehso.com, Get Yo Green On Tuesday, green, Help the Environment, landfill, lead, mercury, recycle, Shawna Coronado