Subsidy helps Chongming collect waste batteries

Chongming county's sanitation authority has gathered more than 1.25 tons of waste batteries since it started to subsidize battery collection in June, the county's environmental sanitation station reported Tuesday.

The subsidy aims to reduce the harmful effects that waste batteries have on the environment by disposing them along with other hazardous waste.

"Waste batteries can potentially pose a threat to the environment if residents don't dispose of them properly," said Dai Xingyi, director of the Center of Urban Environmental Management Studies at Fudan University.

The amount of waste batteries collected in the first three months since the subsidy was implemented has nearly surpassed the 1.5 tons that the Chongming sanitation authority collected over the entirety of last year.

More than 1,500 people visit households across the county to collect waste batteries every month, Yan Yicheng, head of Chongming county's environmental sanitation station. Villagers in the county do not bother to separate waste batteries from other trash.

"We give collectors a subsidy of 0.05 yuan ($0.0079) for each AA or AAA battery to encourage them to collect more waste batteries and reduce the amount that are thrown away," Yan told the Global Times.

Dai said batteries contain heavy metals that can leak into the soil and pollute the underground water system, so they need to be disposed at hazardous waste facilities to prevent environmental damage.

"Those collected waste batteries have a variety of applications, including making new batteries," Dai told the Global Times.

"However, the waste recycling industry has not developed well in our country, so much of the waste ends up getting dumped without being recycled," he added.