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The #1 Recycled Item: Lead Acid Batteries

Jun. 3 2021 Miscellaneous By admin

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Each year, Americans throw away enough plastic bottles to circle the earth four times. One single aluminum can can save enough energy to run a computer for three hours. One ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees. It’s easy to understand the many benefits of recycling in today’s day and age.  

 

According to the Battery Council International (BCI), studies show that lead batteries have a 99.3% recycling rate. This means that they are the number one recycled product used by consumers in the United States. To put it into perspective, newspapers are recycled at a 63% rate, aluminum cans at a 55.1% rate, tires at 40.5% and glass containers at 32.5%. 

 

Why are lead batteries so much more recyclable than other products? There are three key reasons: 

 

  1. Lead batteries only have a few ingredients and 70% of its weight is safely enclosed lead. 

  1. Almost all recycling centers and auto shop locations can recycle lead batteries. Before purchasing a new lead battery, it is usually required that you recycle a lead battery. This creates a closed loop. 

  1. The lead in lead batteries makes recycling profitable. At some recycling locations, you can get paid to recycle lead batteries. 

 

Each lead battery typically consists of over 80 percent recycled material. Every part of a lead battery is able to be recycled into new lead batteries. Because of this, there is a reduced need for new lead mining. This drastically reduces lead battery waste. 

 

Here at Affordable Golf Cars of Venice, we take advantage of all the benefits that recycling lead batteries has to offer. We send our old Trojan lead acid batteries to Trojan, where they use the parts of the old batteries to create new ones.  

 

The used batteries are broken apart into different plastic, lead and electrolytes in the recycling process. The cases and covers of the battery are crushed into plastic pellets to create new cases and covers. The battery grids are melted into lead ingots that help make new grids and lead oxide. Sodium sulfate crystals are separated from the used electrolyte. These crystals are used in textiles, glass and detergent manufacturing. 

 

To see the lead battery recycling process first-hand, watch this video: https://aboutbatteries.batterycouncil.org/How-do-I-recycle-my-lead-battery 


With all of that knowledge, you can feel good about driving a green golf cart!