Battery

    This month's "Care for the Creation" newsletter article will highlight the issue of home battery use and proper disposal.

    Families and individuals are using more and more small and large household batteries.  The average person owns and uses about two small button type batteries (found in calculators, hearing aids, watches, etc.) and about ten normal (A,AA,AAA,C,D,9volt) batteries per year.  As they burn out they often are not properly disposed of.

    Many of these batteries (especially the button batteries and rechargeable batteries) contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and nickel.  These metals are polluting to lakes, streams and domestic water supplies.  If they are buried in landfills these metals can leach into our ground waters, and if burned they can vaporize and can become an air pollutant.

    So what do we do when it comes to batteries of all types?  
    There are two broad types of batteries.  The first is the wet type ( these are primarily the auto and tractor batteries).  We will not deal with these here as the industry is already taking care of this type fairly effectively.  The second broad type is the dry type which is the majority of the batteries we use around our homes, farms and businesses.

    In the dry cell battery type, there are also two major types.  The primary group are those batteries that cannot be recharged such as the (A,AA,AAA,C,D,9VOLT) batteries.  This primary group contains alkaline, carbon zinc compounds which are not as polluting.  However; industry is continually reformulating these batteries, so care needs to be observed.
                                     
    The secondary group, often called the button batteries and all of the rechargeable batteries are of greatest concern.  These are the ones that have the lead-acid, nickel-cadmium and nickel-hydrogen metals that are very polluting.

    The general disposal policy in the past has been that all primary batteries can be disposed in the normal trash and waste and the secondary types required special disposal sites. Again, due to new research finding and the common reformulation by industry, these policies are changing.  It is now being recommended that all household batteries (both primary and secondary) be properly disposed of.

    With this in mind, the Care for the Creation team, with support from the Church Council is implementing a battery recycling program at Calvary. PLEASE LOOK FOR THE CONTAINERS IN THE CHURCH. They will be labeled for the approximate type of battery.

    This is just another small way that each of us can do our part in the Care for the Creation and to again step forward being an Earth Keeper.