Scrap Battery Re-cycling
I can remember a time in the not too distant past, when most
of the companies that sold batteries, struggled to get rid of their old
batteries. I have been selling car batteries for over 40 years now, and other
types of batteries for the past 15 years, but I have never known a time when
the old batteries were worth so much money.
Going back a few years I can remember an old sales ploy that
would give the customer some money back, if they had an old battery to return,
a sort of part exchange scheme, and in fact the older guys amongst us will
still ask, “Do I get anything for the old battery”. Perhaps some companies
still offer the same sales tactic, but I think that in general we keep the
money earned from scrap batteries to supplement the lower profits that we make
on the new batteries that we sell.
Like most things that we sell in today’s market place the price
of batteries have been driven down by the internet, I am not saying that this
is a bad thing; in fact it is a good thing for the consumers who can command a
good price for a battery online. The best customers for us though are the ones
that call into the garage for their battery testing and after buying a new battery,
they leave us with their old battery and we can dispose of it in an environmentally
friendly way, to its final destination and then re-cycling.
The ones we have problems with though are the golfers? For some
reason the golfing fraternity do not to hand in their old battery. For some
reason they always want to take it home with them and save it in their garage
or other out-building. They must think that some sort of “magic “will resurrect
the life back into the old battery. I any of you out there know why they do
this please let me know?
Battery re-cycling by the bigger companies
Because of the rise in price of new lead, scrap lead has
become a much sort after commodity. Countries are fighting to keep hold of the
scrap batteries that are processed and made into new products and great efforts
are made to make sure that old batteries are not just thrown away and dumped on
landfill sites. In my opinion one of the most famous battery recycling
companies is Exide batteries. Exide have got a machine that puts in scrap at
one end and you get new batteries at the other end, a great achievement
Johnson Controls are also making huge efforts to secure and
maintain the supply of waste batteries. Actually what people do not know is
that 97% of all scrap batteries are recycled and companies like Johnson
Controls see no reason that this cannot reach the 100% mark. They have taken
the step of starting up a new web site in America that tells the public the
nearest place to dispose of their old battery,(even golfers). For further
reading about the Johnson Controls battery recycling plant… http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/content/us/en/products/power_solutions/global_battery_recycling/our-recycling-facilities/united-states.html/
This is of course in North America, but other similar
projects are taking place all over Europe and here in the UK. Scrap batteries are
processed and recycled with as much importance as they are in the USA. The old
batteries are stripped down to their basic components and are then sent to another
plant that converts the waste parts into new batteries. Even the plastic
battery casing are ground up and reused to make new http://www.batteryrecycling.com/battery+recycling+process and is well worth a look at.
batteries. This is why many
new batteries have black casings. The old plastic grindings are mixed with new
materials which are coloured black. So if you see a white or clear battery,
then it is made of brand new materials and is not recycled. I find that a good
website that explains about the recycling of different batteries is…
I must admit that I am proud to be in an industry that can
say that it can recycle 97% of the waste and perhaps one day the figure will be
100%.
Eric Roberts
Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the
Garage and tyre and I am MD for online battery company
www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk. I have worked for a couple for national tyre
companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a
garage and MOT testing centre, here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and
Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their
related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and
Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.
.
