Batteries in Singapore safe for disposal

Batteries here low on mercury, not harmful to environment
Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper 5 Mar 09;

BATTERIES here do not need to be specially disposed of, unlike in other countries.

This is because the mercury content in them is minimal and won't harm the environment.

This is good news for Mr Jack Png, 48, a graphic designer, who is finally able to get rid of the more than 50 batteries that he and his wife had been collecting for the past few years.

They had been holding on to the used batteries out of concern that they may contribute to the landfill problem faced in other countries.

In countries that do not incinerate before landfilling, mercury and other hard metals may leak from used batteries into waterways and contaminate drinking water.

Mr Png called The New Paper recently and said: 'There used to be a company which collected used batteries for recycling in France. When I called the National Environment Agency (NEA), I was told there was a company that used to work with schools.

'But it was not viable to continue the programme, so they scrapped it. My neighbour also did some research and he told me that there was no place to throw batteries in Singapore.'

One concern was whether alkaline batteries, which contain mercury, could be incinerated along with normal trash.

A spokesman for NEA replied: 'The common household batteries used in Singapore are zinc carbon and alkaline batteries. The concern with the disposal of such batteries is mercury which may be added to the batteries during production.

'Since 1992, the NEA has mandated through legislation that household batteries sold in Singapore must comply with mercury content limits of not more than 0.001 per cent by weight of mercury in zinc-carbon batteries and not more than 0.025 per cent by weight of mercury in alkaline batteries.'

Lithium-ion batteries safe, too

As for lithium-ion batteries, they do not contain mercury.

Hence, all used household batteries can be disposed of together with other household waste as refuse at Singapore's waste-to-energy incineration plants.

These incineration plants are equipped with air pollution control equipment to remove pollutants and ensure that emissions meet the stipulated standards.

What about rechargeable batteries that are no longer effective?

The spokesman said: 'Household rechargeable batteries are mainly lithium-ion and nickel metal hydride types.

'They are mainly used in appliances like handphones and notebooks. Several brand owners such as Nokia, Motorola and Dell have instituted products - take-back schemes that consumers can make use of to return their unwanted products including the batteries for recycling.

'Alternatively, the used batteries can be disposed of with other refuse at our incineration plants which are equipped with pollution control systems.'

More links
Batteries: rechargeable or disposable better?