Say no to mercury-containing batteries
Although the waste battery is small, it is harmful. However, the pollution of waste batteries has not received due attention, because it can not be felt through the senses like garbage, air and water pollution, and it has great concealment. At present, China has become a big country in battery production and consumption, and the pollution of waste batteries is a major environmental problem that needs to be solved urgently. Starting today, we will release three related reports in succession, hoping that people and relevant government departments will pay attention to the environmental pollution caused by used batteries, make suggestions for the recycling of used batteries, and formulate relevant policies to encourage the production and consumption of "green batteries".
Dry battery is one of the most widely used commodities in our daily life, from cameras, tape recorders, calculators and electronic alarm clocks to pagers, electronic dictionaries and handheld computers. China is a big producer and consumer of dry batteries, with an annual output of 654.38+0.5 billion batteries, ranking first in the world and a battery consumption of 7 billion batteries. On average, every person in China consumes 5 dry batteries every year.
For a long time, when producing dry batteries in China, a toxic substance-mercury or mercury compounds has to be added. In China, the mercury content of alkaline dry batteries is 1 ~ 5%, and that of neutral dry batteries is 0.025%. Every year, the mercury used in the production of dry batteries in China reaches dozens of tons.
Mercury is commonly known as "mercury". Mercury and its compounds are toxic. Scientists have found that mercury has obvious neurotoxicity and has adverse effects on endocrine system and immune system. Minamata disease occurred in Japan in 1950s, which shocked the world and was caused by mercury pollution.
More than 40 years ago, in Minamata, a seaside town in southern Kyushu, Japan, a strange disease appeared among local residents. The patient began to lisp, gait instability, quadriplegia, and finally the whole body spasms, mental disorders, and died in painful torture. Later, more and more people were infected with the disease, and even cats and seabirds showed the same symptoms. Later, medical workers found toxic methylmercury from the dead and the bodies of marine fish, which proved that people were poisoned by eating contaminated fish. After investigation, it turned out that the local Japanese nitrogen fertilizer industry company discharged mercury-containing wastewater into Minamata Bay all the year round, which polluted the seawater with mercury, and the seafood caught locally contained high concentration of methylmercury.
In order to restore the ecological environment of Minamata Bay, the Japanese government spent 14 years and invested 48.5 billion yen to excavate 4 meters of mercury-containing sediments in Minamata Bay and completely remove them. At the same time, an isolation net was set at the entrance of Minamata Bay to catch all the polluted fish in the bay for landfill. Masayoshi Yoshii, the mayor of Minamata, Japan, who witnessed the outbreak of Minamata disease, said with emotion: "After nearly half a century of unremitting efforts, we finally got out of the shadow of Minamata disease and are building a new Minamata city. I hope that the whole world will learn from the lessons of Minamata disease in Japan, get rid of ignorant production methods and advocate civilized production methods. "
It is understood that at present, in developed countries, mercury-containing batteries have been eliminated, and dry batteries have achieved mercury-free or low mercury. Ming Xiu Kobayashi, consultant of the China-Japan Friendship Environmental Protection Center and a Japanese expert, said that dry batteries produced and used in Japan are mercury-free. Because there is no mercury, the harm of waste batteries to the environment is greatly reduced, and the cost of landfill treatment is also reduced.
Since June 65438+1 October1this year, China has also started to promote low-mercury and mercury-free dry batteries. At the dawn of the new century, green batteries have finally entered the lives of China people. However, according to the reporter, most domestic consumers do not know much about the pollution of waste batteries. People often have great randomness when buying batteries, and will not put whether they meet environmental protection standards in the first place. For battery manufacturers, it is necessary to improve the process equipment and raw material formula to produce environmentally friendly batteries, which will undoubtedly increase capital investment and production costs, and enterprises are not willing to do so. At present, some enterprises are indifferent to the "mercury restriction regulations" of batteries.
How to advocate the concept of green consumption that is beneficial to environmental protection? How to urge enterprises to produce green products that are beneficial to environmental protection? The reporter interviewed Professor Ye from Peking University Environmental Science Center. He said that the choice of consumer goods determines people's consumption pattern, and the consumption pattern of the masses is a symbol of the degree of social civilization. Through publicity and education, the public is encouraged to choose new consumption patterns that conform to the concept of sustainable development and buy green products that are conducive to environmental protection. Consumers' choices will prompt producers to improve their products. In addition, manufacturers should be actively encouraged to produce environmentally friendly products. What kind of products enterprises use to stimulate consumption is related to the quality of entrepreneurs and the image of enterprises. But these two points alone are far from enough, because from the consumer psychology of the public, what is generally pursued is cheap and good quality, and environmental protection is not a very important factor; From the perspective of enterprise management, making money is the first priority, and environmental protection is not the primary consideration. Therefore, the government must stand up and use economic, legal and administrative means to make the production mode of enterprises and the consumption mode of the public meet the requirements of environmental protection. Among the three human social behaviors: government behavior, market behavior (or enterprise behavior) and public behavior, government behavior is in a dominant position.
Harm of waste batteries and our countermeasures
The increasing garbage production is overloading the planet we live in, and the endless public hazards and "garbage siege" have sounded the alarm for us. How to realize harmlessness, reduction and recycling has become a top priority. "Dislocation of resources" is a new understanding of garbage in recent years. The implementation of garbage classification will make the best use of recyclable garbage and turn waste into treasure.
In terms of volume and weight, waste batteries are insignificant in domestic garbage, but their harm is very great. Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead. Mercury is very toxic, and lead can cause nervous disorder and nephritis. Cadmium mainly causes kidney injury and bone diseases-osteoporosis, rickets and fractures. If waste batteries are mixed with domestic garbage and buried, heavy metals seeping out over time may pollute groundwater and soil.
The usage of batteries in our life is increasing rapidly, and it has penetrated into every corner of our life and work. Walkman, BP machine, mobile phone, camera, calculator. At present, the national battery consumption is around 7 billion. It is predicted that by 2000, the battery consumption of BP machine alone will reach 65.438+0.55 billion. If these batteries are not handled properly, they will directly or indirectly endanger people's health. Implementing and advocating the classified collection of used batteries has been recognized by more and more people, and has received more and more attention, support and participation. It is better to concentrate pollution than to disperse it.
Treatment and recovery of waste batteries
Many countries in western Europe have set up special waste battery recycling bins not only in shops, but also directly in the streets. The collected waste batteries were first screened by a special sieve in button cell, and clocks, calculators and other small electronic instruments were used in button cell. They generally contain mercury, which can be extracted and used, and then the nickel-cadmium batteries are manually sorted out. A factory in France extracts nickel and cadmium from it, and then nickel is used for steelmaking and cadmium is used for battery production.
The remaining waste batteries are generally transported to a special toxic harmful waste landfill, which is not only too expensive (for example, the cost of burying a ton of waste batteries in Germany is 1700 DM), but also wastes, because there are many useful substances that can be used as raw materials.
Switzerland has two factories specializing in the treatment and utilization of used batteries. The method adopted by Battleck Company is to grind the waste batteries and then send them to the furnace for heating. At this time, the volatile mercury can be extracted, and zinc will evaporate at a higher temperature. It is also a precious metal. Iron and manganese are melted to form ferromanganese alloy for steelmaking. The factory can process 2000 tons of waste batteries a year, and can obtain 780 tons of ferromanganese alloy, 400 tons of zinc alloy and 3 tons of mercury. Another factory directly extracts iron from batteries and sells metal mixtures such as manganese oxide, zinc oxide, copper oxide and nickel oxide as metal scrap.
However, the cost of heat treatment is high, and Switzerland also stipulates that each battery buyer should be charged a small amount of special expenses for waste battery treatment. A "wet treatment" device is being built in the suburb of magdeburg, China. All kinds of batteries except lead batteries are dissolved in sulfuric acid, and then various metals are extracted from the solution with the help of ionic resin. The raw materials obtained in this way are purer than those obtained by heat treatment, so the price is higher in the market, and 95% of the substances contained in the battery can be extracted. Wet processing can save the sorting process (because sorting is manual operation, which will increase the cost). The annual processing capacity of this device in magdeburg can reach 7,500 tons. Although its cost is slightly higher than that of landfill, precious raw materials will not be discarded and will not pollute the environment.
The vacuum heat treatment method developed by Alte company in Germany is cheaper, but it needs to sort out the nickel-cadmium batteries from the waste batteries, heat the waste batteries in vacuum, quickly recover mercury, then grind the remaining raw materials, extract metallic iron with magnets, and then extract nickel and manganese from the remaining powder. The cost of treating one ton of waste batteries is less than 1500 mark.
Starting from me and starting from every little thing around us is our motto. Caring for the surrounding environment and participating in the classification and recycling of used batteries is the responsibility and obligation of each of us. Individual behavior may be insignificant, but the strength that unites each of us is enough to support a civilization, a civilization born out of nature and a sustainable civilization.
The Environmental Protection Foundation has set up two funds: waste battery treatment and sustainable development research.
The "China Environmental Protection Foundation Desai Environmental Protection Special Fund" jointly established by China Environmental Protection Foundation and Desai Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was officially launched on June 7. Qu, chairman of the National People's Congress Environmental Protection Committee, and deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration attended the launching ceremony.
Qu said at the launching ceremony that the recycling of used batteries is a very difficult environmental protection problem and needs more efforts. The launch of Desai environmental protection special fund is of great benefit to solving this problem.
Wang Yuqing said that the ecological and environmental problems in China are very serious, and it is far from enough to rely solely on the strength of the government, which requires the active participation of the general public, including enterprises.
The "Desai Environmental Protection Special Fund of China Environmental Protection Foundation" was started with a donation of 1 10,000 yuan from Guangdong Desai Group. It will devote itself to solving the environmental pollution caused by waste batteries, assist relevant state departments to do relevant research work, publish books on the prevention and control of waste battery pollution, encourage and commend collectives and individuals who have made outstanding contributions in this field, and support and fund cooperation and exchanges in this field. It is reported that the State Environmental Protection Administration's "Research on Pollution Prevention Technology and Policy of Waste Battery Treatment" will be the first project supported by this fund.
In order to promote the sustainable development of environmental protection in China, the "Special Fund for Sustainable Development" established by China Environmental Protection Foundation was officially launched in Shanghai recently. Qu, chairman of the Environmental and Imitation Protection Committee of the National People's Congress, Sun, former vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, and Secretary General of the China Environmental Protection Foundation attended the launching ceremony.
The "Special Fund for Sustainable Development" of China Environmental Protection Foundation is funded by Shanghai Zhongdong Industrial Investment Co., Ltd., with an initial capital of 6 million yuan. At the same time, it also accepts donations and donations from relevant organizations and individuals at home and abroad. The special fund will be managed by a specially established steering committee to reward and commend units and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the national environmental protection cause; Support and fund the research of environmental protection science and technology projects; Support and finance international and domestic cooperation and exchanges in the field of environmental protection; Support and finance the construction of environmental protection science parks and incubation bases.