ARC - Batteries

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Municipal waste

Selective waste collection

Batteries

	Batteries

Batteries are used in transistor radios, toys, torches, watches, calculators and many other devices. They contain heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead, which are potentially dangerous to health and the environment.

If batteries are dumped in the environment with no control, rainwater can carry the metals to groundwater systems and from there to rivers and the sea, possibly affecting living things. In the case of unauthorised burning, the metals can vaporise and disperse through the air and be carried back to earth and into watercourses when it rains. Most heavy metals are bioaccumulative and pass from one organism to another via the food chain.

For this reason, batteries are considered hazardous waste and are subject to specific collection and treatment.

	Types of batteries
	Button cell, large batteries and dry accumulators.

	Selective collection of batteries
	In 1992 the selective collection of batteries through shops was launched in Catalonia under the slogan Apila el mercuri a part.

	The management model
	In 1992 the selective collection of batteries through shops was launched in Catalonia under the slogan Apila el mercuri a part.

	Treatment
	Animated diagrams: the battery treatment and recycling unit and the button cell battery treatment and recycling unit along with fluorescent lamps.

	Statistics
	Statistics on municipal waste and selective collection.

Date of publication: 18/11/03

Update: 24/01/08