Batteries are in practically everything nowadays. Your smartphone has one, your laptop has one, your wireless headphones have one, your Bluetooth mouse has one, your car has one, your videogame’s controller has one, your tv remote has one and so on. With all these batteries in the things we buy, there comes a question: are batteries any good for the environment?

DIFFERENT BATTERY TYPES

The two most efficient and common kinds of batteries are lithium ion batteries which are mainly used in laptops, phones and other rechargeable devices and there are alkaline batteries which are mainly used for most disposable batteries like Duracell. 

LITHIUM ION BATTERIES

Lithium batteries do not have any toxic chemicals inside of them, however the extraction process for the materials inside of these batteries is a big problem for the environment because it generally consists of drilling into the ground and placing the metals into large ponds which results in severe environmental consequences especially the land surrounding the lithium drilling sites. Other materials used in the batteries require going into mines to manually extract the minerals which often results in harsh working conditions for the miners.

ALKALINE BATTERIES

Alkaline batteries represent roughly 80% of all battery sales in the United States. They are made of zinc metal and manganese dioxide. Zinc requires a lot of water and energy to extract from mining grounds. As for the manganese dioxide in these batteries, they are extracted through hydrometallurgical processes (combining water to large amounts of minerals to separate them from their ore)

CONCLUSION

Lithium batteries have been found to be more efficient and ecologically friendly than alkaline batteries. However it does not mean that lithium batteries should not be disposed of properly because most of the materials are in fact recyclable but if they are put in the trash and end up in landfills, they risk causing dangerous chemical reactions. On the other hand alkaline batteries are not excessively toxic and can be thrown in a regular garbage can.