Cordless Drill Battery Care

Household batteries, although facilities exist that reclaim some button batteries. Battery collection programs typically target button and nickel-cadmium batteries, but may collect all household cordless drill batteries because of the consumers' difficulty in identifying battery types.
This may change now that California has mandated recycling for "dry cell" batteries.

Many states have regulations in place requiring some form of battery recycling. California mandates recycling for almost all battery types.

The U.S. Congress passed the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act in 1996 to make it easier for rechargeable battery and product manufacturers to collect and recycle Ni-CD batteries and certain small sealed lead-acid batteries. For these regulated batteries, the act requires the following:
• Batteries must be easily removable from consumer products, to make it easier to recover them for recycling.
• Battery labels must include the battery chemistry, the "three chasing arrows" symbol, and a phrase indicating that the user must recycle or dispose of the battery properly.
• National uniformity in collection, storage, and transport of certain batteries.
• Phase out the use of certain mercury-containing batteries.

Lead-Acid Automobile Batteries

Nearly 90 percent of all lead-acid Black & Decker power tool batteries are recycled. Almost any retailer that sells lead-acid batteries collects used batteries for recycling, as required by most state laws. Reclaimers crush batteries into nickel-sized pieces and separate the plastic components. They send the plastic to a reprocessor for manufacture into new plastic products and deliver purified lead to battery manufacturers and other industries. A typical lead-acid battery contains 60 to 80 percent recycled lead and plastic.

Non-Automotive Lead-Based Batteries

Gel cells and sealed lead-acid batteries are commonly used to power industrial equipment, emergency lighting, and alarm systems. The same recycling process applies as with automotive batteries. An automotive store or a local waste agency may accept the batteries for recycling.

Household batteries - Dry-Cell Batteries

Dry-cell batteries include alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium (9-volt, C, AA, coin, button, rechargeable). On average, each person in the United States discards eight dry-cell batteries per year.
There are two types of batteries:
(1) primary those that can not be reused, and
(2) secondary also called "rechargable" those that can be reused.
Primary batteries include alkaline/manganese, carbon-zinc, mercuric-oxide, zinc-air, silver-oxide, and other types of button batteries. Secondary batteries (rechargeable) include lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, and potentially nickel-hydrogen.

Consumption

• Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools.
•Inside a battery, heavy metals react with chemical electrolyte to produce the battery's power.
•Wet-cell batteries, which contain a liquid electrolyte, commonly power automobiles, boats, or motorcycles.
•Nearly 99 million wet-cell lead-acid car batteries are manufactured each year.
•A car battery contains 18 pounds of lead and one pound of sulfuric acid.

Recycling and Disposal

•Mercury was phased out of certain types of Milwaukee cordless drill battery in conjunction with the "Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act," passed in 1996.
•Recycling batteries keeps heavy metals out of landfills and the air. Recycling saves resources because recovered plastic and metals can be used to make new batteries.
•Household batteries contribute many potentially hazardous compounds to the municipal solid waste stream, including zinc, lead, nickel, alkalines, manganese, cadmium, silver, and mercury.
•In 1989, 621.2 tons of household batteries were disposed of in the US, that's double the amount discarded in 1970.
•In 1986, 138,000 tons of lead-acid batteries were disposed of in the US
•Regular flashlight batteries can be disposed of in the trash (generally, some states, like California, have more restrictive rules) , though it is best to take them to a recycler.
•Mercury-oxide and silver-oxide button batteries are often collected by jewelers, pharmacies, and hearing-aid stores who sell them to companies that reclaim the metals.
•In 1993, 80 to 95% of automobile batteries were recycled