Lead-acid batteries top the nation's recycling list

American motorists who buy new automotive-type batteries help the lead-acid battery remain as the nation's most highly recycled consumer product. The lead-acid battery industry, with help from consumers and retailers, recycled 97.1 percent of spent battery lead from 1997 to 2001, according to a report issued by Battery Council International (BCI).

The lead-acid battery industry, which is the country's largest user of lead, has been recycling and reclaiming lead from its spent products for nearly 75 years. Battery Council International, a not-for-profit organization that represents the international lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling industry, has tracked the lead recycling rate from spent (or used) automotive, truck, motorcycle, marine, garden tractor and other lead-acid batteries since 1987.

Historically, the recycling rate of battery lead has consistently ranked higher than other recyclable commodities. The EPA Web site shows the year 2000 recycling rates of other materials: aluminum cans, 54.6 percent; glass bottles, 26.3 percent; paper, 45.4 percent; tires, 26.1 percent.

Along with the lead and plastic from spent batteries, lead-acid battery recyclers also reclaim scrap lead from the production process and return the materials to manufacturers for use in new batteries. In a continuous cycle, the battery industry reclaims and reuses lead and plastic, keeping these materials out of the waste stream.

Battery Council International helped develop battery recycling laws that prohibit the disposal of spent lead-acid batteries and require them to be collected through a take-back program with retailers of new batteries. Those laws are now on the books in 37 states. The BCI model battery recycling legislation was designed to promote the industry's highly effective, reverse distribution battery collection infrastructure. Today, most major retailers and auto parts stores collect spent batteries from consumers who buy replacement batteries.

The BCI 1997-2001 National Recycling Rate Study and historical lead recycling data are available at www.batterycouncil.org.