Battery Application Guide - CARQUEST Auto Parts

Batteries are Recyclable!Imagine the environmental damage that can bea higher recycling rate than other waste products suchcaused by carelessly discarding 18 pounds of lead,as aluminum, paper, and beverage containers made oftwo pounds of plastic, and a gallon of acid: theglass or plastic, just to name a few. Over 98%contents of a lead-acid battery. Now imaginethat damage compounded byThis is an EPA-permittedof all used batteries are recycled today.recycling75,000,000: the number of lead-acid batteriesavailable for recycling each year inthe United States.Fortunately, scrap lead-acid batteriescan be safely recycled. In fact, they have beenLEADPbRECYCLEsystem, which is important for you toknow because hazardous disposal lawsplace heavy penalties on offenders andconsiderable paper work burden on everyone.You can be assured that your scrap is beingrecycled since the 1920s, and today these batteries have recycled in an environmentally safe manner.RETURNScrap lead-acid batteriesare disassembled in aventilated battery breaker,where the lead, plastic andacid are safely separated.The recycled plastic from the batterycases and tops is reclaimedin the plastic recovery plant, whereit is cleaned and separated intopolypropylene and lead-bearing materials.Polypropylene is recycled tomake cases and covers for new batteriesand other plastic products.The lead is processed and smelted in the reverberatoryfurnace, producing metal which goesto the refinery. There it is placed in kettles, combinedwith reagents, and alloyed into lead foruse in new batteries.Battery acid is recycledin a patented acidreclamation plant. Thisone-of-a-kind, computercontrolledfacility allowsrecycling of used batteryacid for use in the productionof new batteries.Tests show no differencein the performance of batteriesusing recycled sulfuricacid when compared tobatteries using new acid.