On Batteries and CSR

So, here is a question that I’ve been thinking of. Is it against social/environmental responsibility concept for a battery manufacturer to go on selling disposable cells rather than producing-selling rechargeable batteries? I sense an ethical story here because of the reason that after people exhaust the recent batteries in their hands and shoot it off to the nature, they, naturally, go to the stores and buy a new one for their needs. So, that’s a pretty good motive for those mentioned firms to not to decrease/abolish their disposable battery production.

There is the other motive that, because the rechargeable batteries require recycling procedures, (may raise the amount of heavy metals entering the waste stream more than the disposable ones unless they are effectively recycled.) that would also increase the cost of producing a single battery for the manufacturer. And, the producer will have to supply “recharger” equipments to the customers, which is also a burdensome procedure despite possible profit opportunities.

The only against perspective that I’ve ever heard of is, that recharging those batteries will also use energy sources during the recharging activity. But I don’t think that this is a healthy criticism because, the energy will also be used in the charging process in the factory for the next (disposable) cell that you are going to buy. That, in my opinion, is the only opposing but unconstructive idea to distributing and using rechargeable batteries.

You may still find some “helpful” material in battery manufacturers’ web-pages for environment and nature though. Like;

- Turn off any battery-operated appliances when not in use
- Remove batteries from appliances if they are not going to be used for a long time.
- To prevent a potential safety hazard, do not mix old batteries with new ones. When old and new batteries are mixed, leaking or rupturing could occur, possibly resulting in injury or property damage
- Do not recharge a battery unless it is specifically marked —rechargeable.— Attempting to recharge a non-rechargeable battery can cause it to leak or rupture
- Do not dispose of batteries in a fire (except city incinerator)—it may cause them to explode.
- Do not open battery casings
- Do not insert batteries backwards into any device

…Simple precautions which we may read from the back of a pack. One of the firms, a major one actually, even had dared to copy a list like this from a U.S. based environmental organization’s web-site and pasted it into theirs without any notification. (I couldn’t find any concrete evidence that the sides are somehow connected with each other.)

In conclusion, it’s obvious that those firms do not take as much of a responsibility for guarding the environment seriously. Although their plants and discharge policies are in compliance with the standards, it’s not enough. Eliminating some of the heavy metals or adopting changes in package design will not be enough if they go on selling more then they used to. The solution must be a costly but absolute one if they really want to guard the Mother Nature. Otherwise, there may not enough bunnies left around to take part in their campaigns.