Lead-Acid Battery Recycling

An Environmental Success Story

What is a battery?

A battery is an energy storage device in which chemical energy is converted into electricity and used as a source of power.Common types include:

• Lithium-ion• Zinc carbon (ZnCO3)• Nickel metal hydrate (NiMH)• Nickel cadmium (NiCD)• Alkaline• Lead-acid

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Lead-acid batteries contain potentially hazardous materials that — if not disposed of properly — could harm the environment.

With hundreds of millions of lead-acid batteries in circulation, we could have been facing an environmental nightmare; yet lead-acid battery recycling has become one of today’s great environmental success stories.

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How many lead-acid batteries are out there?

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33% of the world’s batteries are of the lead-acid type

300-350 million lead-acid batteries are produced annually

(about 1 new lead-acid battery every 11 seconds )

8,000 times higher than Mt. Everest

Lead-acid batteries are a $24.9 billion market world wide

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10% of lead-acid batteries are used for uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

Schneider Electric purchases 44 million lbs. of lead-acid batteries annually (20 million kg)

2x as heavy as the Eiffel Tower

Lead-acid batteries are one of the great environmental success stories

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Lead-acid batteries are the most highly recycled consumer product

Nearly 80% of each lead-acid battery is

made of recycled material

Consumer product recycle rates

How does a lead-acid battery get recycled?

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Lead-acid batteries are composed of

3 recyclable materials

Lead plates are melted down in smelting furnaces. Molten lead is poured into ingot molds, which are re-melted in the manufacture of new plates.

Battery acid may be: > neutralized, cleaned, treated, tested and

released into the public sewer system > processed and converted into sodium sulfate,

an odorless white powder used in laundry detergent, glass, and textile manufacturing

> chemically treated and reused in battery products

Plastic cases & covers are crushed, melted together, and extruded as pellets to be used in the manufacture of new cases & covers

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How does a lead-acid battery get recycled?

Find practical how-to guidance on recycling industrial lead-acid batteries in Schneider Electric’s Data Center VLRA Battery End-of-Life Recycling Procedures.Download our free white paper now to learn more.