How to make money recycling batteries. Battery recycling in Russia and the world. Collection and storage of hazardous waste

Battery recycling is an acute problem of our society, which is not enough attention. In many innovative countries, this problem has already been solved. However, a very small number of people in our country pays due attention to the disposal and processing of harmful items of mass use. Every citizen needs to be aware of the importance of recycling batteries after use, their impact on the environment and human health.

Why recycle batteries?

The harm to batteries begins after they fall into the bin or are simply thrown out on the street. Ecologists are outraged by the irresponsibility of people for their own health, as the collapsing battery shell begins to release harmful substances, such as:

• mercury;
• lead;
• nickel;
• cadmium.

These chemical compounds when decomposed:

• enter the soil and groundwater;
• at the water supply station, harmful substances can be purified, but it is impossible to completely eliminate them from the liquid;
• the accumulated poison, along with water, affects the fish and other river inhabitants that we eat;
• when burned in special processing plants, batteries emit more active chemical substances, they enter the air and penetrate into plants and the lungs of animals and humans.

The greatest danger from incinerating or disintegrating batteries is that when they accumulate chemical compounds in the human body, they increase the risk of developing cancer, and also affect the health of the fetus during pregnancy.

Where to put the batteries after use?

Self-disposal of the used material will not work. In the big cities of our country there are special items reception, which accept batteries for recycling. Most often, collection points for used batteries are located in outlets shops. It is possible to donate batteries in a large retail chain IKEA. Carrying one battery at a collection point is very inconvenient, so you can simply put them aside until 20-30 pieces are accumulated.

Recycling technology

Thanks to modern technologies Disposal of one batch of batteries takes 4 days. Recycling a battery includes the following general steps:

1. Initially, manual sorting of raw materials takes place depending on the type of battery.
2. In a special crusher, a batch of products is crushed.
3. The crushed material enters the magnetic line, which separates large elements from small ones.
4. Large parts are sent for re-crushing.
5. Fine raw materials need a neutralization process.
6. The raw material is separated into individual components.

The process of recycling the material is very costly, it is produced in large factories. Unfortunately, in the countries of the former Soviet Union there are very few processing plants for such a harmful product. There are special storage facilities for batteries, but for many years the premises have been completely filled.

Experience of European countries

In the European Union, the problem of battery disposal is not so acute. Almost every store and even enterprises have containers for collecting waste material. For processing plants the cost of processing the material is foreseen in advance, so this cost is already included in the price of the new product.

In the United States, collection points are located directly in stores selling such goods. Up to 65% of products are disposed of annually in the country, and distributors and sellers of goods are responsible for this. Battery manufacturers finance the recycling of the material. Most modern ways processing takes place in Japan and Australia.

Conclusion

Our society pays little attention to the problem of battery disposal. One battery that has not been recycled can damage 20 square meters of soil. Harmful chemicals enter the water that everyone uses through water systems. In the absence of proper disposal, the likelihood of developing cancer and congenital pathologies increases. Each of us must take care of the health of the future generation and contribute to the recycling of batteries after their use.

In December 2013, the Media Markt hypermarket chain launched the first battery collection program in Russia. Today, the authorized network for receiving used batteries unites 66 Media Markt stores in 30 cities of Russia. During the first six months, the program managed to collect more than 300,000 (7 tons) batteries.

- To begin with, I immediately want to ask: how are things going with the battery recycling program now?

Megapolisresurs and I are often tormented by questions about when everything will end: we have money, the plant has nerves. But, fortunately, the project feels great, and for 2015 we extend it without any doubt. It would be foolish to invest so much money and effort into the development of this topic and close at the start, especially since interest in the battery recycling program is growing.

Now in our stores we will distribute compact eco-boxes, in which it is convenient to collect dead batteries at home. They will also be available at Recycle events.

Megapolisresurs is also doing well, because, as it often happens, once one major player succeeds in a new field, it is much easier for everyone else to decide to try it for themselves.

The plant has new partners. As far as I know, there are already agreements with MTS and IKEA, more whole line companies are moving in this direction. We ourselves regularly receive letters from colleagues in the shop with a request to tell us how to organize the collection of batteries in our retail chains, offices or banks. This inspires optimism.

- How many batteries have been collected since the start of the recycling program?

We planned to collect 7 tons per year, but it turned out in just six months. So by the end of 2014, we expect about 15 tons: the pace is not falling, plus in the second half of the year we opened several stores in cities that are new to us - Krasnoyarsk, Yoshkar-Ola, Petrozavodsk, there is often simply no other way to hand over the collected batteries for guaranteed processing.

It is difficult to calculate the exact number of collected batteries at any given moment, because they accumulate in stores sometimes for six months and we get the results after taking them out for recycling. Of course, they collect most actively in large cities - we take out large containers from Moscow stores every 2-3 months.

- How does the program work?

We are required by law to remove batteries at least once every six months. The infrastructure itself is built in such a way that it is convenient for all participants in the chain. In the trading floor of each hypermarket of the network there is a pink container d, which holds about 20 kg of batteries. In the store's warehouse there is another box, already designed for 400 kilograms. The contents of a small container are regularly poured into it, and when it is full, the warehouse specialist seals the box and calls Megapolisresurs.

A car comes from the factory to pick up the batteries. And so on all cities of Russia. Of course, we try to make sure that the truck takes out recyclables from several hypermarkets at once. This reduces logistics costs and carbon footprint.

Those volumes of batteries that we usually send to Megapolisresurs are ground in a couple of hours. Plus, it takes a few more days to extract valuable metals. At the same time, the plant is able to recycle up to 15 thousand tons of batteries annually, and the share of recovered resources is up to 80%. This is a very high figure. In Finland, for example, the battery recycling process ends at the stage of separation of the iron shell from the inside of the battery.

- How much does Media Markt pay for battery recycling?

A significant part of our expenses is related to logistics, because Media Markt hypermarkets are scattered throughout Russia. As a result, the initial price tag of Megapolisresurs for the transportation and processing of a kilogram of batteries is about 110 rubles.

At some point, we were forced to limit the intake of batteries to 10 kilograms per person at a time. We rejoiced when the batteries were handed over ordinary people for whom the program is intended, activists, schoolchildren, but when hundreds of kilograms of batteries began to be brought by online stores and other commercial structures, screaming at every corner how “green” and responsible they are, we had to refuse them. After all, we have to pay for disposal in any case.

I am sure that there is no actual “responsibility” in environmental responsibility at the expense of others. By installing a container, you are responsible to people for where, how and for what money its contents will be processed. No budget - collect waste paper.

- Many simply do not know that you pay big money for processing.

This is one of the prevailing myths: "any waste into income." But it's not like that. There are valuable recyclables - non-ferrous metals, waste paper, plastic. But in the case of batteries, this is not about profit (the cost of raw materials does not even cover logistics costs), but about reducing damage to the ecosystem. There are a number of wastes, for the disposal of which any business is required to pay by law. For example, offices are required to pay for the disposal of office equipment, fluorescent lamps, restaurants must recycle fat from deep fryers, hairdressers - cut off hair. This raises no questions for anyone, after all, no one tries to attach their oil cans to a neighboring restaurant, because it is larger.

- How did Media Markt's large-scale battery recycling program start?

Before the project, I worked for two years in the PR department of Media Markt, performing the standard set of PR duties. But I really wanted to launch some kind of socially significant project, especially since our hypermarket chain is German, and therefore there were all the prerequisites for this. Separate waste collection, energy efficient stores, providing data for the Sustainability Report - all these processes were established in Media Markt from the very beginning.

But this is an internal corporate responsibility, which only employees of the company know about, it is invisible to ordinary people. There are no large public eco-projects covering all countries where Media Markt operates. But we are a decentralized company, that is, each division in a particular country, city, even each store can offer its own initiative.

We began to study the experience of the network in other countries. Media Markt in Italy, for example, has put a lot of effort into reforestation after the big fires. The Dutch organize eco-weekends, Austrian stores have green areas: goods that are specially recommended by the local environmental department as part of a joint project with the chain get there. Turks started collecting small electronics for recycling years before it was legal. The idea with batteries was formed gradually, although it was in the air long time in the air.

- Why batteries?

One of the key points in the decision was a letter from a girl from St. Petersburg, which came to our corporate mail. She asked why we do not accept batteries for recycling in the same way as the German Media Markt does. We then thought - and really, why?

They are small and easy to store - for many, this is an easy first step towards separate waste collection. In addition, the damage from batteries is much greater than from the rest. household waste, and in their composition there are valuable metals, the supply of which on the planet is limited, and the extraction is very dirty. At that time, there was not a single federal initiative in Russia under which batteries would not only be collected, but also guaranteed to be recycled, we had the opportunity to occupy this niche.

How did your colleagues react to the idea?

Anya Trofimova, head of the PR department, became the main advocate of the project. She immediately saw in the idea big potential and helped to look at it from a business point of view. My fine-hearted and stupid activist ardor had to be turned towards solving business problems. After all, no company will give millions to save hedgehogs, and if it does, it will cut this budget at the first economic difficulties.

To create something big and long-lasting, it must be relevant to the core business of the company. We have been analyzing the future effect of the project, its value for our clients and employees, and the needs of the target audience for a long time. It’s not enough to deliver containers, you also need to talk about it, so we spent a lot of effort on a PR strategy: we chose the right tools and communication channels, studied Russian and Foreign experience in the field of PR of social projects, calculated the budget. And already with this they came to the leadership and prepared to defend their idea.

The German management received the project surprisingly warmly. It turned out that all our expats, even CEO, have been taking dead batteries home to Germany for years. They are used to separating garbage and suffer from the lack of infrastructure in Russia. Initially, we came with a modest plan to launch a recycling pilot program only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but the foreign leadership of the company insisted that the project be launched throughout Russia.

It was a discovery for me how much can be done from within a large corporation. Where a private activist has a fiery heart, two free hands, three containers at the entrance and a poster on the fence, the company has a huge network in dozens of cities, the interest of the federal media, the expertise of good specialists, the budget and the ability to attract interesting partners - some of which are worth !

Yes, you will have strict limits and requirements, and it’s not a fact that you will be able to “break through” your idea at all, but if everything works out, then the scale is completely different, and you will simply have to work efficiently, observing deadlines and agreements - with this Projects that are done in your spare time can be problematic.

- How did you get to Megapolisresurs?

I accidentally stumbled upon an old article on bg.ru, which said that a certain plant in Chelyabinsk was ready to launch a battery recycling line. Then I did not know yet that Media Markt was already cooperating with Megapolisresurs, though on a different issue. Since the very opening of the network in Russia, the plant has been processing fixer (fixer of a photographic image on film) from our photo labs in stores. We met, realized that we were looking in the same direction, and got ready to be the first in Russia to test the battery collection and recycling scheme.

After we found a processor, it took 3-4 months to settle legal issues, because we are faced with an abyss of holes in Russian legislation. For starters, the batteries weren't in the Federal Waste Classifier (FSC). That is, in legal terms, they simply do not exist. Our lawyers, together with Megapoliresurs, worked for a long time on the correct formulations and a competent collection procedure, because the responsibility for violations of environmental legislation is serious.

Along the way, we were looking for partners to share the financial costs of the project with them. German manufacturer batteries VARTA responded immediately and enthusiastically. It is not the first time they have been pioneers in the field of battery collection - they have experience of large campaigns in Eastern Europe. VARTA actively cooperates with GRS, the national battery collector in Germany.

Of all the battery manufacturers, they are perhaps the most environmentally responsible: they use FSC-certified cardboard for packaging, some battery series have a certificate of evaluation for life cycle product Nordic Swan. They still produce batteries in Germany, not in China, where the environmental requirements for production are incomparably lower.

The second participant - "Leto Bank" - was also quickly found, this is our partner in lending in stores with the most, in my opinion, benevolent face, despite the serious rear in the form of VTB. As it turned out, people in costumes are also not at all alien to environmental problems.

It is all the more pleasant that it is completely Russian company- we absolutely did not want sighs on the topic "Only foreign business cares about the Russian ecology." In November 2013, after 6 months of turmoil, we launched a battery recycling program, first in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and by the end of the year throughout Russia.

- The project will soon be one year old. What fears of yours have not come true?

Many have asked us: “Who needs to recycle batteries anyway? Our people are not the same, in Russia people for the most part do not care about environmental problems.” When we launched the program at Media Markt, this did not frighten us - we saw that in activist circles, at least, this topic was constantly discussed.

But there was another fear - that an explosion of interest in the project would be followed by complete silence and failure. In the first months, those who have been saving them for years will bring batteries, and ordinary people will not be drawn into this practice. Now I can confidently say that this did not happen. by the most different people, even those who are completely far from environmental activism, like the project, they tell their friends about it and bring batteries to us, often with their children, which is especially nice.

This once again proves that the problem with separate collection is not a lack of consciousness, but poor infrastructure. Make convenient, permanent, good-looking collection points, and people will gladly get involved in this practice.

Chelyabinsk businessman Vladimir Matsyuk was one of the first in Russia to start recycling batteries, which are assembled for him by Media Markt and IKEA. Business is still scanty, but very promising

Chelyabinsk entrepreneur Vladimir Matsyuk (Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC)

Waste industry

Growing up in Soviet Kazakhstan, Matsyuk from personal experience knew how to be careful with resources. “There were often supply problems,” the entrepreneur recalls in an interview with RBC. - Therefore, from the skins of eaten oranges, my mother made candied fruits, and from the seeds of sea buckthorn, if they were insisted on sunflower oil, a disinfecting oil was obtained. For me, it was the natural course of things.”

In the late 1990s, Matsyuk graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the South Ural state university(Chelyabinsk) and began to combine teaching and work in commercial structures. In 2004, he decided to take his students' summer internships seriously for an organization theory course, proposing that they create a real firm. The students themselves came up with the name of the company - "Megapolisresurs", and then began to decide what it would do. Matsyuk already had experience in solving "environmental" issues for Chelyabinsk firms, so it was decided to focus on an understandable topic (waste paper recycling). But the practice quickly ended, and Matsyuk felt a taste for business. “I decided to let there be waste, but with precious metal, we need to pull out valuable contents from them and lower the hazard class,” he recalls.

Matsyuk decided to start collecting fixer - a solution that is used to fix images on film or paper. Depending on the type of shooting (black and white, color, x-ray) when fixing up to 70% of the silver contained in photographic paper (from 5 to 40 g per 1 sq. m ), goes into solution, from which silver can be easily extracted. “The main thing was to correctly determine the purchase price of the spent solution, so that it would make sense for laboratories to store it and sell it to us,” recalls Matsyuk . According to the entrepreneur, a liter of fixer is purchased at a price of 40 to 70 rubles: “Up to 4 G silver." At current prices for silver (about 27 rubles per gram) per liter of fixer " Megapolis resource "can earn about 110 rubles. To start this business (mainly for the purchase of equipment) Matsyuk spent $ 20 thousand. In the profit came out after eight months. Profit was 25-30% of revenue. Silver obtained in the form of granules " Megapolis resource » sells to jewelers (clients include Veliky Ustyug plant "Northern black").

Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC

In 2008, the silver extraction business was added to the extraction of silver from photographic solutions. “At first they thought that silver could be washed off the films with the help of harsh chemicals, but these are people, manual labor, a high degree of danger, and you want to sleep peacefully,” Matsyuk recalls. - We found a biological solution - special bacteria turn the film into gelatin, from which silver is then extracted. The whole procedure, in terms of danger, is close to cheese production.”

In 2009, Megapolisresurs started recycling microcircuits and electronics (medical and office equipment), which, in addition to silver, contain gold and other rare metals. Requirements for the processing of various equipment were introduced in 2002 by the federal law "On Environmental Protection", and for their violation, companies were threatened with a fine of 100 thousand to 250 thousand rubles. or suspension of activities for up to six months. “The first clients were consulates and foreign companies: they were terribly afraid of our laws, according to which we can’t just throw away computers,” recalls Matsyuk. Now Megapolisresurs actively serves government agencies on this topic - only in the last two years, according to the public procurement website, Matsyuk's company has won more than 40 tenders for the disposal of various equipment for a total of about 2.5 million rubles.

Batteries are also waste.

The idea to recycle batteries was thrown to Matsyuk “from the audience”. In 2013, when the entrepreneur was speaking at a conference, he was asked why he recycles circuit boards but does not recycle batteries. “I replied that we can also use batteries, but no one collects enough of them,” says Matsyuk. After the conference, one of the public organizations of St. Petersburg came out and collected 2 tons of used batteries. For Megapolisresurs, this was the first experience of working with batteries.

How batteries are recycled

For the processing of batteries, Megapolisresurs uses a production line where microcircuits are disposed of. First of all, the batteries are crushed and the iron elements are separated with a special magnetic tape. Manganese and zinc (in the form of salts), as well as graphite, are extracted from the resulting polymetallic mixture in several stages of leaching. In total, four removable cells account for 80% of the weight of the batteries. The production lines of Megapolisresurs allow processing up to 2 tons of batteries per day. Battery recycling takes about four days.

In 2013, the battery collection project decided to launch the Media Markt chain, which chose Megapolisresurs as a recycling partner (the companies had already collaborated on photo solutions). For a trading network, this social project(in Germany, more than half of the batteries sold are recycled). At the start of the project, it turned out that the batteries were not included in the Russian waste classifier, and Media Markt and Megapolisresurs spent almost six months to correct this defect and other organizational measures. " total weight batteries sent for recycling in 2014 amounted to about 18 tons, - a representative of Media Markt told RBC. “This is more than double what we planned when the project was launched (7 tons).” IKEA (three points in Moscow, about 6.5 tons collected), the VkusVill chain of stores (56 points in Moscow, 1.4 tons), as well as retail chains in several regions (several dozen points) also give their batteries to Matsyuk. .

Garbage resource

565 million batteries was sold in Russia in 2013

30 tons of batteries redesigned Megapolisresurs in 2014

2 tons of batteries per hour can process "Megapolisresurs"

70 rub. — the cost of recycling 1 kg of batteries

1.5 million rubles the company gained from the recycling of batteries in 2014

100 million rubles — total revenue of Megapolisresurs

Sources: company data, Greenpeace Russia, RBC calculations

For "Megapolisresource" » Battery recycling is a small but promising business. Unlike fixer, films and computers for batteries Matsyuk not only does not pay, but also receives money - from the companies that collect them. “We pay 70 rubles for recycling 1 kg of batteries,” the director of public relations told RBC. Vkusvill Evgeny Shchepin . “At the same time, we ourselves have to deliver the batteries to the warehouse.” Megapolisresource " in Moscow. They do not provide transportation services yet. Manager environmental project Media Markt Alena Yuzefovich in November 2014 told online edition of Recycle that the "initial price tag" Megapolisresource "for the transportation and processing of a kilogram of batteries - about 110 rubles." The company does not make money on partners, but takes from them only the cost of delivery and recycling of batteries: “70 rubles. - This average cost recycling of 1 kg of batteries,” claims Matsyuk . According to him, the income from recycling batteries in 2014 amounted to 1.5 million rubles.

Most of this amount was contributed by battery collectors, so far Matsyuk is not very good at selling recycling products. From 1 ton of batteries, you can get 288 kg of manganese, 240 kg of zinc, about 47 kg of graphite. “The content of manganese (28.8%) and zinc (24%) in batteries is higher than in the richest ores (up to 26%),” Matsyuk notes. “If we look at batteries as raw materials and not as waste, we will see a unique deposit that has a lot of valuable raw materials.” But this is theoretical. And in practice, it turns out to sell only iron from batteries: it goes to the Mechel plant in Chelyabinsk. It is still difficult with sales of non-ferrous metal salts: “The volumes are small and of little interest to wholesale buyers, and retail sales are too laborious for laboratories.”

According to RBC calculations, if Megapolisresurs sold chemically pure metal, then 1.4 tons of graphite, 8.6 tons of manganese and 7.2 tons of zinc extracted from 30 tons of batteries could bring the company about $ 50 thousand (about 1.9 million rubles at the average exchange rate of the ruble in 2014; based on market prices for metals). But in order to obtain manganese and zinc in the form of a metal, additional investments of $1.5 million are needed, says Matsyuk.

The crisis has failed

The main income items for Megapolisresurs are still the processing of office equipment and photo waste. In 2014, these areas, according to the entrepreneur, brought the company in the amount of 100 million rubles. (approximately equal). In 2013, according to Kontur.Focus, the company's revenue amounted to 49 million rubles, and net profit— 7.7 million rubles.

Matsyuk expects recycling volumes to increase. “In December 2014, amendments to the law “On production and consumption waste” were adopted, which oblige the manufacturer to pay either a recycling fee for their products, or to undertake obligations for its partial return collection,” says Matsyuk. “But while there are no relevant by-laws, it is not clear how this will all work.”

In the case of batteries, if at least 10% of what is sold is recycled (in 2014, according to Matsyuk, 8 thousand tons were sold), this will allow Megapolisresurs to earn over 100 million rubles annually.

In 2015, Matsyuk plans to earn 220 million rubles. for the disposal of office equipment and about 100 million rubles. - on the extraction of silver from films and solutions. How realistic are these plans? Last year, Megapolisresurs ended with a loss (Matsyuk did not disclose its size) due to a 20% fall in silver prices in the second half of the year (from $20 to $16 per troy ounce). As a result, the Megapolisresurs and Fractal companies (also owned by Matsyuk) did not fulfill the contracts concluded earlier both for the processing of scrap containing precious metals (for example, with the Research Institute of Semiconductor Devices - for 3.8 million rubles), and for the supply of silver (to the plant "Northern Chern" - by 427 thousand rubles, to the company "Yuvelirdragmetal" - by 3.6 million rubles). This, as follows from the file of arbitration cases of the Pravo.ru system, forced the partners of the company to apply to the courts. “We took out loans and purchased equipment based on silver prices of $30-35 per troy ounce, and we were forced to sell the metal at prices almost half that,” Matsyuk notes. In January 2015, he registered a new company, Megapolisresurs, in Kurgan.

Moscow competitors

In Moscow, in addition to Megapolisresurs, several other companies accept batteries for recycling: Ecoprof LLC - 580 rubles each. for 1 kg, Megapolis-Group LLC - 100 rubles each. for 1 kg. Whether these companies have their own battery recycling facilities, their employees could not say by phone.

As a result of the technological upgrade, the efficiency of the line for the utilization of power sources reached 80% due to more complete processing. This is one of the best indicators in Europe, where the average efficiency of processing plants is 50-60%, according to a press release from Megapolisresurs. Thanks to the upgraded facilities, the company will be able to extract pure non-ferrous metals from batteries, which are much easier to sell on the market than their compounds.

The advantage of the new line is that it is separated from other processes at the plant, thanks to which it is possible to avoid pauses in the processing of more profitable raw materials, such as precious metals, Vladimir Matsyuk, general director of the Megapolisresurs group of companies, explained +1. Also, during the modernization, it was possible to reduce the share of imported equipment from 50 to 15%. Together with the renovation of the line this measure will keep the cost of disposal at the same level, despite the changed conditions.

Megapolisresurs, which initially specialized in the processing of photo waste and electronics, disposed of the first batteries in 2013. Thanks to cooperation with large retail chains, activists and government agencies, the number of collected and recycled batteries has exceeded 20 million in three years.

After making changes to the federal law“On Production and Consumption Waste” (No. 458-FZ), the company needed to issue a license for handling waste of hazard class I-IV, including the processing and disposal of batteries.

“Until July 1, 2016, waste management activities did not require a license. The innovation coincided with the start of the modernization of the line, and it was decided to obtain permits for disposal taking into account changes in production,” Vladimir Matsyuk specifies. “At the same time, we studied the needs of our customers in terms of battery collection.”

The main thing is the ability to hand over the battery

At the beginning of 2017, one of the enterprises belonging to the Megapolisresurs group of companies received a license to collect and transport batteries. As a next step, the plant launched the boxy battery collection service. For six months, branded green boxes for collecting batteries have appeared in many Moscow offices and public places - from the Federation Council and Vnesheconombank to the Tsvetnoy department store and Moscow libraries. Now the enterprise is ready to process up to 1000 tons of batteries per year, in previous years, more than 300-400 tons were not collected throughout the country.

“It is a terrible misconception that people in Russia are not ready to hand over waste for recycling, that they should start with environmental education, and only then establish separate collection, - says Alena Yuzefovich, head of the Boxy service. — I firmly believe in the power of infrastructure: when it is convenient to hand over waste for recycling and there is trust in the recycler, thousands of people across the country are ready to get involved. And business is ready to finance the creation of such infrastructure.”

Now the opportunity to return batteries to their customers is offered, among other things, by some large retail chains: Globus, IKEA, Vkusvill, which send the collected waste for processing to Megapolisresurs.

The Importance of Recycling

In the European Union, the first law that made the disposal of certain types of batteries mandatory came into force in 1991. Since 2006, the requirement applies to all types of batteries and accumulators. This is due, first of all, to their toxicity: batteries account for up to 40% of the volume. hazardous substances entering the environment with household waste. Just one AA battery thrown into a landfill pollutes about 20 square meters of land.

Not only the placement of batteries in a landfill has a negative impact on the quality of the environment, but also the extraction of raw materials for them - for example, according to Megapolisresurs, the production of 1 kilogram of zinc from primary ore leads to the formation of 200 kilograms of waste. Recycling batteries allows you to return to the production cycle useful resources with a minimal ecological footprint, make new things out of them - from pencils to saxophones - and prevent new waste generated during mining.