China is a big country for battery production and consumption. In Beijing alone, sales of batteries reach 56,000 tons. The consumption of so many batteries each year is followed by recovery and disposal. Although some environmental protection workers in the community are enthusiastic about this work, they are basically self-employed. At present, China has not yet formed the industrialization of waste battery disposal. The amount of waste batteries recovered is minimal, and most of them are landfilled with garbage. So, how to deal with waste batteries? The reporter recently interviewed experts in environmental protection.
Zhang Qiang, a professor and doctoral advisor at Beijing University of Science and Technology, said that mercury- and mercury-free batteries are not mercury-free, but their mercury content is greatly reduced and they still belong to mercury-containing waste. The pollution of waste batteries to the environment is not only mercury but also other heavy metals. When mercury is landfilled with domestic waste, in the environment of water, temperature, and methane, due to the action of bacteria, inorganic mercury is chemically modified with organic mercury, and its toxicity is enhanced, and it is more easily absorbed by plants and animals. Even though our country has achieved mercury-free and mercury-free batteries on schedule, the world’s most populous population and the largest amount of consumption in the world will be used day after day to dispose of used batteries with domestic waste, and it will be harmful to the environment. According to experts' estimation, only 15% to 20% of current battery manufacturers in China have the capability and technical conditions for producing mercury-free batteries. It will take time to completely replace mercury-rich batteries with mercury-free batteries. The battery will also flow to the market. Moreover, the current market in China is still filled with a large number of fake and shoddy batteries, which have very poor anti-leakage performance. In this case, we must not waste landfills containing mercury.
Professor Zeng Pingrong of Beijing University of Science and Technology believes that used batteries are not only garbage, but also secondary resources that can be recycled. Taking a zinc-manganese battery, which accounts for 92.5% of the total battery in China, for example, the useful substances are zinc, discharge manganese dioxide, iron, copper, mercury, and graphite, accounting for about 75% of the total battery volume, and only zinc and discharge. Manganese dioxide and iron accounted for 70%, which can be used as the main object of resource recycling. According to the calculation of China's battery production data provided by the China Battery Industry Association in 2000, only manganese-zinc batteries will consume 150,000 tons of zinc metal, 270,000 tons of manganese dioxide for discharge, 0.8 million tons of copper metal, and 160,000 tons of steel annually. Ton, there is the consumption of graphite. These metals and non-metals are all taken from our country's mineral resources, throwing them all into landfills.
Associate Professor Sun Qing of the Research Group of the Model for Waste Battery Recycling and Utilization of Beijing University of Information Technology said that developed countries all have recycling measures for used batteries, and the amount of recycling is considerable. In order to discuss the recycling mode of used batteries, his research group recently conducted a large-scale questionnaire survey among primary and middle school students and community residents, issued more than 9,800 questionnaires and collected nearly 7,000 copies. Associate Professor Sun Qing said, "In the process of questionnaire distribution and statistics, our strongest feeling is that consumers have shown great enthusiasm for handling waste batteries." Among the 5,079 effective questionnaires, 88.39% of consumers think that “you are aware of the impact of used batteries on the environmentâ€. The question of sending used batteries to collection points, 94.53% of consumers answered "willingness." The research team also conducted a recovery test. In a community with more than 10,000 residents, 1,159 kilograms of used batteries were recovered in 18 months. Through this questionnaire survey and experiment, the task group concluded that as long as it is done seriously, scale recovery is feasible.
On May 21 last year, the Beijing Municipal Government issued a document requesting the collection and disposal of household waste in a demonstration residential community. One of the six types of waste collected was used batteries. In the past few years, the Beijing Municipal Municipal Administrative Committee's useful garbage recycling center has accumulated more than 500 tons of waste batteries. In order to avoid secondary pollution and ensure that these waste batteries are protected from rain and moisture, they free up several large garbage containers, making these small waste batteries have their own safe “homeâ€. The support of the government will greatly change the situation in the past where the recycling efforts depended on the voluntary efforts of the people.
Experts suggest that waste and used batteries should be collected as much as possible through the use of waste separation channels in qualified large and medium-sized cities; before China's industrialization of the recycling of used batteries is completed, it should be properly stored; research on the industrialization of recycling of used batteries should be actively carried out. As soon as possible to achieve harmless regeneration of waste battery production capacity.