Out all of the items that our homes and offices produce, dead batteries are one of the few waste items we should never dispose without a degree of care. This may come as surprise to many but even the smallest batteries out there have hazardous chemicals which can react and cause serious harm to the environment. Besides the environment, these batteries can seriously harm people and animals if they are not disposed of properly and toxic metals leach into the food chain. Furthermore, every type of battery can prove to be dangerous; this means even the double AA batteries for your remote control and your laptop batteries as well.

On a commercial level, this is a more serious issue. Most businesses dispose of hundreds of laptop batteries at the same time, when they offer their employees new devices or replacement batteries. Unfortunately, simply dumping these batteries with the waste or using a free IT recycling service is insufficient to avoid environmental damage. Many of these batteries end up in land fill sites and can cause serious harm. Most of the waste that reaches landfill sites are either incinerated or buried on the site. Batteries which are incinerated emit chemicals that harm the environment and buried batteries start to leak chemicals over the years which seep into nearby into streams, lakes and groundwater. This is why it is important that every business disposes of all their batteries using a professional recycling service.

How Can Batteries Be Recycled?

Batteries are made from an array of different materials and each type of battery is unique in its own way. Each battery type can be recycled for a variety of purposes. Here is a list of how commonly used batteries can be reclaimed and put to good use.

• Zinc batteries: This is the most common type of battery found in every home and could be used to recover steel, zinc and magnesium.

• Nickel cadmium: This battery type is normally used to power heavy duty equipment such as power drills: steel, cadmium and nickel could be recovered for recycling purposes.

• Lead batteries: Lead batteries are normally used in industrial applications in order to power forklifts and cars. This battery type can be used to recover lead, polypropylene and gypsum.

• Nickel metal hydride: This battery type is used to power smart phones and tablets; it can be used to recover steel, nickel and other raw materials.

• Lithium Ion batteries: Lithium batteries are used in laptops and contain a variety of materials which can be reused, these include cobalt, lithium and steel.

How To Safely Dispose Of Batteries

Disposing of any type of battery has to be done with a degree of care, especially for businesses as they have so much at stake. Businesses can face lawsuits for environmental negligence if their disposed batteries ae proven to cause any harm to the environment, animals or to other people.

However, there are many different recycling mechanisms in place to help businesses effectively dispose of batteries. Businesses should consider a professional IT asset disposal service, who will negate the businesses liability of responsibly disposing of their laptop batteries. To learn more about data cleansing or IT asset disposal simply call 01332 371989 to get in touch with one of our technical sales team today.