WE RECYCLE:

• most rechargeable batteries
• all button batteries
• nickel-cadmium batteries, NiCd
• lithium batteries
• silver-oxide batteries
• mercuric-oxide batteries
• lead-acid batteries

WE DO NOT RECYCLE:

• common non-rechargeable single use batteries including 9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA size batteries
• alkaline or alkaline-manganese batteries
• carbon-zinc batteries
• nickel-metal hydride, NiMH, rechargeable batteries
• batteries that are not purchased and used by the university.

HAZARDOUS WASTE:

• The batteries we recycle are hazardous waste under Minnesota Hazardous Waste Rules and Minnesota Statutes. It is illegal to put them into the waste stream. The heavy metal content will leach in landfills and cause environmental health problems. Questions about proper management of waste batteries can be directed to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 1-800-657-3864 or on campus to Bob Jacobs, Director of Environmental Health & Safety (96)2-6533.

HOW & WHERE TO RECYCLE:

• Batteries may also be brought to the Recycling Center in the Physical Plant.  Small quantities can be sent via intercampus mail to "PHP-Bob Douglas."  For larger batteries or quantities, please submit a request for service to the Physical Plant.
• If you have larger lead-acid batteries belonging to UST, they can also be dropped off at the Grounds Department at the UST garage, 2076 Grand Ave. Personally purchased lead acid batteries should be taken to any area lead-acid battery vendor who is required to accept them by state law.  

• If you live in the United States or Canada, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's web site can tell you the nearest drop off location which will take unwanted, old Ni-Cd batteries. Or you may call 1-800-8-BATTERY to find the nearest retail collection site.
• At present, there are no commercially viable recycling facilities in the U.S. for most household batteries including alkaline and carbon-zinc ("classic") batteries.
• Over 2.5 billion small sealed consumer batteries are sold in the United States each year, of which over 350 million are rechargeable Ni-Cd batteries.
• Rechargeable batteries, "button" batteries, and special use batteries used in cameras, calculators, and other electronic equipment contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, lithium, silver, and cadmium. As products, they pose no threat to health because the heavy metals are contained within the battery housing. Adverse environmental effects arise when these batteries are placed in landfills where the housings will eventually deteriorate and release heavy metals to leach into ground water. These metals are also released when batteries are incinerated in municipal waste incinerators. The metals are not destroyed by the incinerator process, but are either collected in the ash or released as fine particulate through the incinerator stack. In either case, humans and the environment are exposed to these hazardous metals.

• Cadmium batteries are safe to use. They are also cheap, saving American parents about $1.50 on the average toy, compared with pricier batteries.  But cadmium batteries can be hazardous to make. Exposure to cadmium, a toxic metal like mercury and lead, can cause kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease.  As the U.S. and other Western nations tightened their regulation of cadmium, production of nickel-cadmium batteries moved to less-developed countries, most of it eventually winding up in China.  China has dozens of so-called "hot spots" where the cadmium contamination is similar to levels at U.S. superfund sites. More that 10% of China's arable land is contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium, according to the State Environmental Protection Agency, and the metals are entering China's food supply.   -from “Toxic Factories Take Toll On China's Labor Force,” by Jane Spencer and Juliet Ye in The Wall Street Journal, 15 Jan 2008

• Cadmium is classified as a probable human carcinogen. In animals, it is associated with sarcoma, lung cancer, and prostrate cancer. High rates of lung, prostrate, and testicular cancers have also been reported in workers who inhale cadmium on the job - but the question of incineration, cadmium ingestion, and cancer risk remains unexplored. Somewhere between 50 to 75 percent of the cadmium in the waste stream - about thirteen hundred tons - comes from discarded batteries. (from Sandra Steingraber's Living Downstream, 1997)
• "The Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act of 1996" was signed into law to encourage collection and recycling of rechargeables. It establishes uniform national labeling requirements with a recycling phrase appropriate to its electrode chemistries. Manufacturers were required to be in compliance in May 1998.
• Recycling batteries is an expensive operation for St. Thomas. Many batteries pose a threat to our health and the environment. The best option is to avoid using battery operated items when possible. The next best option is to use rechargeable batteries, mercury-free carbon zinc, or low-level mercury batteries.
• Motor vehicle batteries contain about 18 pounds of lead and about one gallon of corrosive lead-contaminated sulfuric acid. Each year, an estimated 70 million spent lead-acid batteries are generated in the U.S. That's 1.25 billion pounds of lead and 70 million gallons of sulfuric acid! An estimated 250,000 lead-acid batteries are improperly disposed of in Minnesota each year, potentially releasing over 4 million pounds of lead and 250,000 gallons of sulfuric acid into the environment.
• Under state law, all places that sell lead-acid batteries are required to accept up to five used batteries per consumer, free of charge, whether you are a customer or not. For more information about lead-acid batteries, contact the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
• Nickel-metal hydride, NiMH, rechargeable batteries are considered safer than nickel cadmium, NiCd, batteries, because of the absence of the heavy metal cadmium.  Nickel is easily recyclable but as yet there is little interest from processors in accepting these batteries for recycling.  We anticipate that situation may change as the use of NiMH batteries grows.

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