Lead-Acid Batteries Top The Nation's Recycling List; Continuous Closed Loop Recycles Battery Lead Indefinitely

CHICAGO, July 23 -- The lead-acid battery industry, with help from consumers and retailers, recycled 97.1 percent of spent battery lead (or 10.5 billion pounds of lead) from 1997 to 2001, according to a new report issued today by Battery Council International (BCI). According to the data, the lead-acid battery remains as the nation's most highly recycled consumer product.

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.

"The lead-acid battery recycling structure has been proven to be efficient and highly successful, and no other battery chemistry can come near the recycling rate of lead-acid batteries," said Keith Wandell, president of BCI.

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.

"Lead-acid battery recycling in the U.S. was one of the most significant environmental success stories of the 20th century and the trend continues into the 21st century," said Mr. Wandell.

Between 1945 and 1990, U.S. blood lead averages plummeted while battery production rose. Blood lead averages fell from 28 to 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood while battery production rose from 17 million to almost 65 million units per year.

"The lead-acid battery industry has worked with lead for 100 years. We understand its health effects and we know how to protect our employees, our neighbors and the environment from too much exposure to it," Mr. Wandell added.

Battery Council International was instrumental in developing model 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.

"This high recycling rate for battery lead is the result of a successful collaboration among members of the battery industry, retailers and consumers," said Mr. Wandell. "It proves that a workable infrastructure helps boost consumers' participation in recycling."

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