98% recyclable, not 98% recycled. On 24 January 2018 at 15:07, EVDL Administrator via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > On 24 Jan 2018 at 0:20, Bill Dube via EV wrote: > >> Basically, at _least_ 35% of all lead-acid batteries are _not_ being >> recycled. > > Bill, sorry, but I think this is too simplistic. For this analysis to apply, > you'd have to assume that essentially every lead battery manufactured > replaces an existing lead battery. Obviously that's not the case, so of > course some newly mined lead has to enter the manufacturing stream. > > To name only one reason, each year the vehicle population worldwide > increases about 3.5 percent. The vast majority is ICEVs, but almost every > one of them has a lead battery. > > At the same time, the 98 percent figure has always struck me as implausible. > I've seen too many explicit counter-examples, such as the coast guard > workers I read about who (at least used to) regularly tip spent buoy > batteries into the deep so they wouldn't have to haul them back to port. > > Do you work in an office? In the years I worked in a place that had a UPS > at every computer workstation, the number of batteries I rescued from the > trash and took home to my own recycling pile numbered in the dozens. I'm > sure I probably missed the majority of them. > > It's also shocking to read the harrowing accounts of third-world battery > recycling. Apparently it's cheaper to export some batteries and other > recyclables to low-wage countries for dismantling. In many cases these > nations have weak or nonexistent environmental laws, or the laws can be > bypassed with a small cash payment. Thousands of dirt-poor people work in > these gigantic festering scrap piles, with no protective gear, poisoning > themselves and their air, water, and ground day after day. How is this > accounted for? Do we ignore it because they're lead-polluting some other > country, not ours? And shouldn't we consider the impact of shipping the > batteries over, and the reclaimed materials back? > > Sure, there's a well developed recyling infrastructure for lead batteries, > and thank goodness for it. But what are the consequences for not using it? > Nobody is checking your trash. In the end it's down to individual > responsibility. Good luck finding much of that, outside of folks on this > list. > > I've seen this 98 percent battery recycling figure many times over the > years. While (as the song says) data is not the plural of anecdote, my own > observations, reading, and experience make me skeptical about it. > > David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA > EVDL Administrator > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not > reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my > email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) >
-- Paul Compton www.morini-mania.co.uk www.paulcompton.co.uk (YouTube channel) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
