Recycling zinc batteries: an economical challenge in consumer waste management

The zinc battery has become the most popular source of portable electrical energy. Worldwide, more than 300 000 tons of batteries are sold yearly. As the battery weight becomes less and less important for a given delivered power, battery weight averages between 10 g per unit for AAA models and 140 g for D-size batteries. It is reckoned that 25 000 units are present per ton and a number as big as 7.5 billion cells are sold yearly to consumers: more than one cell per inhabitant of the world. It is a human challenge to achieve the recycling of consumer-type batteries. Individuals should cooperate in such a program in order to ensure its success. For spent consumer batteries, collection rates as high as 60% have been reported in countries like Austria, Denmark and Switzerland. Such performances will be achieved with difficulty in other bigger countries. Is it necessary or useful to recycle zinc batteries? In order to answer this fundamental question, various elements will be considered in this paper, such as the energetic balance of the chemically active part of the battery, the value and the supply of the materials and finally the important steps and alternative routes to the recycling of zinc batteries.