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Battery Recycling Harms Third World Countries–What To Do?

By Elyse Van Breemen

     We cart our car batteries off for recycling, thinking we protect the environment. Not so– not on a world-wide basis. To avoid stringent regulations in the U.S., used car batteries are processed abroad– some 70 million or so a year. Plants in such countries as Mexico, Venezuela, South Korea, China, South Africa, India and Brazil do not follow our environmental protection policies.

     Rivers and air are polluted. Workers, mothers children suffer from lead blood poisoning; respiratory ailments, skin sores that bleed, kidney disease, impaired fertility. not to mention, at high levels, coma, convulsions and death. Lead is especially detrimental to children; it causes kidney disease, gouty arthritis and permanent lowering of intelligence, creating reading and psychological disorders. Even at low levels of exposure, lead causes anemia by impairing the formation of oxygen-carrying molecules. Low levels also cause high blood pressure, leading to early death, especially for men ages 35 to 50;

     Australia, Japan and the U.K. similarly export battery waste and other lead scrap

Grim.

     Oil and water don’t mix; neither does lead and life. Historians link the decline of the Roman Empire to a decline in intelligence caused by the use of lead in drinking vessels and other containers.

     What do we do? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander and we should insist that any recycling plant used by an American company, albeit in a third world country, insures safety precautions to prevent leeching of lead into the environment.

     What else? Charles Van Breemen invented Battery Life Saver with the idea that it could help protect the environment. The use of this electronic device triples the life of a battery by preventing the formation of lead-sulfate on the battery plates– the main reason batteries go bad. Van Breemen passed away in April of 2007, but his legacy is carried on by his wife, Elyse, who champions his cause. With wide scale use of Battery Life Saver fewer batteries would have to be discarded; cutting the number of batteries that would need to be recycled.

     In third world countries, environmental and workplace rules are lax and wages are low. While it is not profitable to operate lead recycling facilities in industrial countries due to environmental and health regulatory costs, it could be profitable to expand the use of Battery Life Saver so it is used on all lead-acid batteries or develop batteries with Battery Life Saver mechanism incorporated into the structure. Battery Life Saver is currently very popular in golf carts and NEV’s. Future developments will make it possible to use in mainstream electric cars.

     "I have my hands full," says Elyse Van Breemen, the President of Battery Power Solutions and Innovations, "seeing that my husband’s mission is accomplished. I see Battery Life Saver as "the light bulb" to the battery industry. In these difficult economic times, we need simple, cost effective solutions to environmental and transportation problems, and we have one."

For more information, or to obtain a free booklet, "Everything You Want to Know About Golf Cart Batteries But Were Afraid To Ask" call toll free 1-866-301-8835 or go to www.batterylifesaver.com

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