The State Environmental Protection Administration is seeking better
ways to curb environmental threats from large quantities of heavy
metals, acid and alkali that have been leaking from discarded
batteries.
A
new research program currently run by the administration is
focusing on measures to significantly reduce the environmental and
health dangers by improving the collection, treatment and disposal
of discarded batteries.
The program aims to generate standard techniques in the treatment
of discarded batteries and regular reclamation of the batteries,
said Yu Dehui, director of the technology department under the
administration.
Batteries that are not properly disposed of will disintegrate and
leak the dangerous substances in ground water, soil and air,
eventually polluting the food people consume.
Currently China still lacks the techniques to effectively treat
discarded batteries, according to the official.
Yu
said batteries that contain mercury, which is very harmful to the
environment and human health, will eventually be phased out of
use.
Yu
was speaking at the launching ceremony for the Desay Battery
Environmental Protection Fund held in Beijing on Thursday.
During the ceremony, Desay Power Technology Co Ltd, based in
Huizhou in south China's Guangdong Province, donated 1 million yuan
(US$120,000) to the China Environmental Protection Foundation to
set up the fund, which will be used to support research into
battery disposal.
The administration's program will be the first to benefit from the
fund.
According to statistics from the central government, the total
output of batteries in China has exceeded 14 billion per year,
accounting for one-third of the world's output.
(China Daily 06/12/2001)