In addition to recovering valuable resources like plastics, metals, and glass for further use in manufacturing, recycling batteries and electrical equipment help to protect our environment. Batteries are hazardous waste that if not properly disposed of can pollute the environment. Battery collection points are located all over Ireland. It is critical to understand the importance of safe battery handling, storage, and collection.
Only in a select few exceptional cases, such as with lead-acid batteries, is the material being recovered in an effective manner. Many high-tech products, such as batteries and electronics, contain a variety of materials that can be potentially harmful, as well as materials that are valuable and scarce.
The majority of battery types are suitable for recycling.
On the other hand, certain batteries, such as lead-acid automotive batteries and button cells, are significantly more likely to be recycled than others.
First, the battery is disassembled into its individual parts, which include plastic, acid, and heavy metal. Hammers or shredders that rotate at a high speed are frequently used to break up batteries. Draining the battery acids or other liquid electrolytes and neutralizing them so that they become water is one option; another is to process them into compounds such as carbonates.