Harmful effects of Lithium- Ion Battery Disposal

The advent of technology in the 21st century has led to some serious environmental contamination, especially from one aspect that is the wrongfully disposing of the massive amount of batteries in the environment. These batteries are generally from electronic devices that can range from high-end laptops to a simply battery-powered toy car.  Now that it is projected that electronic vehicles are going to surge in the future means this is even bigger of a problem. Lithium-ion batters have made portable electronics ubiquitous, and they are about to do the same with electric vehicles. A battery is made of an anode and a cathode, they together generate electricity by conducting power in the electronic device. Simply put the ions move from one end to the other transferring power required to run the device. But this cannot be done forever. Eventually, there is a depreciation of the capacities of these systems due to micro-level characteristics. This is when the user realizes there is a need to buy new ones and without second thought disposes of the batteries in the environment. This can end up in landfills where they decay and leak. They also corrode and seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater and in some cases, even the surface water. This will in turn enter the bodies of plants and animals that consume the water and increase the chemical hazards to the ecosystem. In addition, these can also radiate and spew out toxic chemicals into the atmosphere thereby negatively affecting our breathing and contributing to global warming.

Therefore, it is important to send these batteries for recycling. It is also very simple to do and. In most cases, there are organizations in the state you reside in that regularly look for such batteries. You can simply give them the used products for a very low cost and what's more? they can be recovered to make new batteries, thereby lowering the manufacturing costs. It can also reduce the overall quantity of materials that end up in landfills. Less reliance on mining for battery materials could also slow the depletion of these raw materials. This can already be seen in the implementation stage in some brands such as fortrum which recycles a large variety of such batteries. You can always find one or the other way to recycle them or else you yourself can take a small portion of your time to research on how to safely dispose of them, after all, it is not rocket science. Each time you throw an everyday use battery it is equivalent to killing about ten animals or plants in the next decade. So, be wary of what your actions can lead to. Another alternative to this problem is residing in rechargeable batteries that consume less non-renewable natural resources. They can also help with your cost savings, which will be a better option in the end because it will improve the lifestyle of upcoming generations as well. If you want to live in a cleaner, healthier world for generations to come, recycle your used batteries.