Batteries Weighing Heavy On Landfills…..What To Do?

Discarded Batteries

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few years, possibly even the past decade, you have at some point realized that going “green” is one of the trendiest and most cliche marketing ploys around. Many products marketed as “green” have taken legitimate steps to make what they are selling more environmentally friendly, and others simply slap the word “green” onto their goods as if it were the South Beach Diet craze all over again.

The battery industry is no different. The recent Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas was evidence of this as “green” batteries seemed to be generating a lot of the buzz. Most manufacturers are taking great steps in producing new types of eco-friendly batteries, and with great need. According to Adria Vasil’s book Ecoholic, 50% to 70% of heavy metals found in landfills come from our everyday batteries. That’s 50% to 70%! While that seems outrageous at first thought, thinking about those numbers a little harder makes you realize that much of what we use in our day to day lives is battery-operated. Toys, last year’s cell phone, video games, cameras, laptops and so much more, all powered by batteries that will likely end up laying in a dump somewhere.

What to do? Well, there really are some incredible eco-friendly batteries available, and many more are on their way. Do a little research to find out which batteries adequately fulfill your power needs while at the same time remain less harmful to the world we live in. Rechargeable batteries are always a solid option, but there are some great eco-friendly disposable batteries on the market as well. So next time you go to make a battery purchase, be sure to think about your exit strategy for the battery once all of it’s juice is used up.