The public is encouraged to recycle used batteries, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday, ahead of the Lantern Festival next week, which is expected to generate nearly 4 tonnes of batteries used to power handheld lanterns.
The agency estimated that a total of 1.26 million button-cell-powered lanterns would be given out by local governments this year to celebrate the festival, which would produce 3.79 tonnes of waste batteries as each lantern uses three 1g button cells.
Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, and throwing away used batteries could cause environmental and health hazards, the EPA said.
“Toxic metals can leak from improperly disposed batteries and enter the food chain and human body, causing neurological symptoms, reproductive impairment, and liver and kidney diseases. The EPA urges the public to do garbage sorting and make sure that batteries are properly recycled,” EPA Resource Recycling Fund Management Committee staffer Chao Kuo-feng (趙國芬) said.
The nation uses about 9,300 tonnes of batteries every year and had a recycle rate of about 47 percent last year, which meets the EU’s 45 percent waste battery recycling goal, Chao said.
Taiwan has an 80 percent reuse rate of waste batteries, from which manganese powder, iron and zinc are retrieved, she said.
“Batteries have rather low recycling rates because they are small and often discarded as trash, or they have special design specifications, such as machine batteries and laptop batteries, some of which are not easy to remove, so they are usually disposed of along with the appliances they power,” she said, adding that the agency had instructed local governments to design easily detachable battery holders for giveaway lanterns.
The agency also encouraged people to remove used batteries from larger appliances for use in low-power consumption appliances, such as alarm clocks, remote controls and calculators, to drain residual power before recycling them.
Used batteries can be dropped off at convenience stores, cosmetic shops and electronics outlets. Some convenience stores provide incentives for battery recycling, such as an NT$8 shopping discount at 7-Eleven, or a tea egg or a yogurt drink at FamilyMart in exchange for a bag of batteries weighing 500g, she said.
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