New recycling system brings life to dead batteries
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A new Burdekin Shire Council recycling system is helping combat the amount of batteries being dumped in local landfills.
Residents can now recycle household dry cell, button cell and rechargeable batteries in designated battery containers at the Ayr and Home Hill Transfer Stations, as well as at Council Chambers.
Lead acid batteries, such as car and boat batteries, continue to be accepted at the Kirknie Landfill and Ayr, Home Hill and Giru Transfer Stations.
Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin said with Australians draining the life of more than 400 million batteries each year, it was important that local governments do their part to reduce the amount entering landfill.
“Currently, less than 5% of batteries are recycled each year. When these batteries are dumped in landfill, they can leak a range of toxic substances into the environment, such as lead, mercury and cadmium,” Cr McLaughlin said.
“This recycling system will help breathe new life into these dead batteries by safely recovering mercury, lead, silver, nickel, cadmium, steel, lithium and plastic.”
Recyclable batteries include:
Household dry cell batteries: Alkaline, zinc carbon and zinc batteries can be recycled. These batteries typically come in sizes AAA, AA, C and D size, or rectangular 9 and 12 volt batteries which are commonly used in torches, radios, and remote controls.Button cell batteries are used in a wide variety of everyday items like hearing aids, watches and calculators.Lead acid batteries are most commonly used in cars, however they are also used extensively for power storage and battery backup systems such as computer uninterruptable power supplies. Sealed lead acid batteries are used in many applications such as emergency lighting, security alarms, portable tools and consumer electronics.Rechargeable batteries can be re-charged and reused hundreds of times. These types of batteries are used in mobile phones, cordless power tools, laptop computers, cordless phones, portable shavers and many more applications.