Batteries have become an inseparatable part of the modern world because all of our gadgets need power to work. Just see how many gadgets we have in our bags whenever we left the house. You must have a cellular phone with you, or maybe even more than one cellular phones, in addition to that, you may have a tablet or tab or laptop with you. All of those gadgets need power to work and they get the power that they need from their batteries. Moreover, just look around your house. How many batteries you use in your clocks, watches, children toys and all your households gadgets? So you see that there are just so many batteries that we use everyday around us. And this also means that there are so many batteries that we have to throw away every month. If we look in a bigger perspective, we will see just how many piles of batteries garbage generated by all human beings every day. This very thought is enough to make us do something about it. At the very least that we can do, we can change from traditional batteries to rechargeable li-ion battery. This way, we can reduce the number of batteries thrown away every day because we use batteries that become useless after one time of use.
Not only that garbage can endanger our earth in general, but garbage of batteries is hazardous to the environment as well as to the human’s health. Garbage when not treated properly, will only cause nothing but environmental problems, such as the green house effect. Why is it so? It is because batteries contain dangerous substances such as cadmium, lead, mercury, copper, manganese, zinc, etc Therefore, we all need to be careful when disposing our batteries. So you see, that in changing to rechargeable li-ion battery is the best solution to reduce battery disposal. However, when you need to dispose them, it would be best to dispose of them in one of the recycling centers. Because of its dangers, not all recycling centers can recycle batteries. They first need to be assessed to see whether they are eligible to handle the harmful effects of batteries, then when they do, they will receive a certificate.
Why is the battery, including the rechargeable li-ion battery is dangerous for human’s health? The answer is because cadmium and lead in the batteries can be absorbed and enter our inhalation and ingestion system. In addition, Mercury, which is also equally dangerous, can be absorbed through our skin. These substances can create skin irritation, pain in the abdominal area, headache, etc. In more severe cases, they will even cause cancer. These dangerous chemicals and irons can also easily be absorbed to the ground water and the ground water effect everything around us, the trees, the animals, and even us because we do consume this water too. The ground water will soon become impure when come in contact with the waste batteries. And when this happens, we just cause another damage to Mother Nature without really know how to repair it.