You have one too. A kind friend or relative who will gift a toy that needs a battery – or two. They didn’t know that battery operated toys are barred from this house.
I understand that people want to choose a gift a child will love. It can be hard to find toys that look attractive and are entertaining – particularly in large department stores. But that doesn’t mean that battery operated toys are okay.
And I’m not even going to mention overstimulating a child, or having to cope with the tears when the battery no longer works and there isn’t a mega pack of spares in the draw to end the trauma. Or the thought of a child being able to access the battery compartment and with their fidgety little fingers and removes the battery from its cheap plastic surrounds. We all know that batteries are very dangerous for children. Small button cell batteries are easily swallowed and can cause severe internal burns and significant injury or death.
It’s what happens when the dead battery is headed for the rubbish that concerns me.
I’m referring to the alkaline batteries used to power items like toys, torches, smoke detectors, radio controlled cars and other modern devices such as the ubiquitous computer mouse.
The number of batteries we buy are extraordinary. More than 345 million handheld batteries are purchased in Australia every year. Only 19% of those are rechargeable. And over 8,000 tonnes of dead batteries are sent to landfill. According to ABRI[1] (2010), an ‘optimistic’ estimate is that 6% of end-of-life handheld batteries are recovered for reprocessing.
Modern batteries no longer contain mercury, but do contain minerals such as cadmium, lead, and lithium-ion. These are extremely toxic. They can cause soil and water pollution and endanger wildlife. For example, cadmium can cause damage to soil micro-organisms and affect the breakdown of organic matter. It can also bio-accumulate in fish, which reduces their numbers and makes them unfit for human consumption.
Battery Production
But the environmental impact of batteries is not limited to the waste stream. This is what many of us fail to consider when we are buying batteries. It’s the environmental impacts that occur in the production, distribution and end-of life phases of the battery life cycle.
The many varieties of batteries use these minerals, carbon, zinc, manganese, lithium, nickel, cadmium, lead, copper, aluminium. Mineral resources must be extracted to produce batteries. Mining is energy intensive. The process involves burning large amounts of fossil fuels. As well as contributing to global warming, mining can also destroy wildlife habitat and create air and water pollution.
Hundreds of millions of batteries are imported each year and transported to warehouses, shops, homes and workplaces. Fossil fuels are burned to create energy for transport and natural areas are cleared to build infrastructure. Plastic packaging is often used to package batteries. Plastic is made from fossil fuels.
I’m not suggesting that we can live without batteries. I love my mobile phone and my computer mouse as much as you. But I do think that these are useful tools that have longer life spans than a plastic toy containing a battery.
How many battery operated toys come with a big warning sign – ‘HAZARDOUS WASTE. Recycle batteries. Do not place batteries in landfill’?
Our war on waste begins with conscience purchases. Conscience of the total life span of a product right through to disposal.
Let’s help raise little nature lovers today.
[1] The Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) has been formed by a group of battery manufacturers, recyclers, government bodies and environment groups to promote the collection, recycling and safe disposal of the full range of batteries. For more information visit BatteryRecycling.org.au