Battery recycling

Many batteries are thrown away in regular waste after they have been used. Battery recycling is a name of the process of separately collecting such batteries so that they can be disposed of properly. Batteries contain metals such as lead, copper or zinc. In the form that is used in the batteries, these metals are very harmful to the environment - most are toxic. Collecting the batteries allows the extraction of some of the metals, which can then be re-used, not thrown away. The parts that cannot be extracted or re-used are disposed of in a way that is less harmful to the environment. For this reason, many countries have rules that say that a given percentage of all batteries must be re-cycled. 

Battery composition by type

Italics designates button cell types.
Bold designates secondary types.
All figures are percentages; due to rounding they may not add up to exactly 100.

 Type Fe  Mn  Ni  Zn  Hg  Li  Ag  Cd  Co  Al  Pb  Other  KOH  Paper  Plastic  Alkali  C  Acids  Water  Other Alkaline          24.822.30.514.9       1.3  12.25.43.7 10.114 Zinc-carbon       16.815 19.4      0.10.8 0.7469.2 12.315.2 Lithium           50191  2        72  19 Mercury-oxide 37111431       2 3 1  37 Zinc-air      42  351         441 103 Lithium       60181  3        3 2  13 Alkaline      37231110.6         622 614 Silver oxide  422290.4 31    4  210.5 24 Nickel-cadmium        35 22    15      102  511 NiMH        201351    4  10  94  88 Li-ion      22    3  185 11    13  28 Lead-acid             654  10  16 5

References

Category:Recycling
Category:Batteries