With the enormous growth in cell phones, laptops, iPods and, of course, in children's toys, battery sales have risen dramatically worldwide in the last 10 years. Batteries have become absolutely essential to our everyday life. From our instant portable cameras to our music players to our automobiles, batteries make our lives completely convenient and portable. But along with that enormous growth in battery use, comes a growth in the need to recycle batteries in order to protect our environment as well. We should look to recycle rather than simply toss our batteries in the trashcan.

Batteries are unique components that are comprised of various elements that include heavy metals such as nickel cadmium, mercury nickel metal hydrate and alkaline that can harm the environment if not properly recycled. It is extremely important that each of us understands how to properly dispose of all of those batteries that we use everyday in our lives. In 2006 the state of California actually imposed a landfill ban on all household batteries. It's vitally important that you understand how your local community may require you to dispose of your batteries that are no longer working. Some states or municipalities that have recycling programs will require you to sort batteries by type [lithium, alkaline and rechargeable for example] in order to make the recycling effort more efficient. Be sure to understand what is required of you.

In general terms, if your local area does not have any recycling facilities then you may find that local stores such as an automotive outlet will offer to accept your old batteries for recycling. Some places of laws that old car batteries have to be accepted by automotive outlets when you buy a new one. But if you do have to dispose of batteries in a landfill or the garbage, keep one thing in mind. Despite the fact your batteries may not have enough power left to run your iPod or your child's toy truck, if several batteries are clumped together they can emit enough of a charge to cause them to ignite. It's better to be safe than sorry. You should also take note that you should never use a new battery with old ones as they can also work together ignite, leak or rupture and ruin the electronic item.

One of the things you can do to reduce the number of batteries that need to be disposed of is to use rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable nickel cadmium batteries today can simply reduce the number of batteries that you need per year. You still need to dispose of these rechargeable batteries properly as well but the more we use rechargeables the less likely we are to simply cast off normal everyday batteries in an improper way because we have so many of them.

In the United States alone, consumer households buy more than 3 billion batteries each year. That's about 10 batteries per person in America alone. Obviously there is an important need for each of us to continue to be conscious of the need to dispose of batteries properly to protect the environment. Continue to do your part and we can help each other.

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