valve regulated lead acid battery Report Faults U.S. Use of Mexican Battery Recyclers

According to an environmental agency created by the North American Free Trade Agreement, US companies are sending used lead batteries to recycling plants in Mexico that do not meet US environmental standards, putting Mexican communities at risk.
In a heated report this week, the agency's environmental cooperation committee noted that the United States did not fully follow the common procedures of developed countries to treat International Battery Transport as hazardous waste.
It accused environmental agencies on both sides of the border of making mistakes in regulation and law enforcement. Cross-
According to the report, the border trade in lead batteries increased by 525% from 2004 to 2011.
The report, distributed in draft form, has been forwarded to the governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico, which have 60 days to oppose the publication of the report.
According to trade statistics, about 20% of lead-acid batteries in the United States are currently shipped to Mexico for recycling.
"There needs to be better coordination and better cross-cutting between government agencies.
Evan Lloyd said, "until the end of last year, he was the executive director of the agency and supervised the year-long study.
The report highlights some shortcomings: the customs data on the number of batteries crossing the border is inconsistent with the US Environmental Protection Agency statistics. Though the E. P. A.
The battery needs to be notified to leave the US and there is no effort to ensure that they have arrived at a qualified recycler in Mexico.
Data sent by battery company to E. P. A.
The export is made up of a pile of paper.
Lloyd says it has never been collected into an electronic database that is "useful to regulators.
"Almost all lead-acid batteries used in the United States are recycled to extract lead for reuse because lead is a dangerous pollutant and a valuable commodity.
Lead batteries are used in cars, mobile towers and wind turbines.
Since 2008, new US restrictions on lead pollution have complicated and expensive domestic recycling.
Environmental groups say it helps boost recycling trade in Mexico, both legal and illegal, because the country's restrictions on lead pollution are less stringent and enforcement is far less powerful.
"There is a very consistent model that shows that exports are a direct result of US exports. S.
Emission standards, "said Perry Goldfield, executive director of the international professional knowledge organization, which has led an international campaign against lead poisoning. Mr.
Gottesfeld pointed out that Johnson Control is a Mexican factory owned by a large U. S. recycler.
Its lead emissions are more than 30 times that of the latest US plant.
"What Mexico needs to do is recycle it to the United States. S.
Standards, and the United StatesS.
"There is a need to do a better job of tracking batteries overseas," he said . ". In an e-
Mail, a Milwaukee-based Johnson control company, said the company was "modernizing and reinvesting" the Mexican factory acquired in 2005 to reduce its environmental footprint.
"This report was launched in response to a report by the Mexican environmental organization Professional Knowledge International and frontier Comunes and an investigation article by The New York Times, SirLloyd said.
The Times collected soil at a school playground near a recycling plant outside Mexico City and was found to have lead content five times as much as the US allowed.
Lead poisoning can lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage and abdominal pain in adults, and lead to severe developmental delays and behavioral problems in young children.
When the battery is damaged due to recycling, lead is released as dust and during melting, lead is released as leadEmissions.
In the United States, Recyclers operate in highly mechanized, tightly sealed factories, using chimney scammers and a wide range of monitors to detect the release of lead.
Factories in Mexico are very different in terms of safety standards, and in some factories the recycling process is much simpler than people who break the battery with a hammer and melt it in a furnace.
In recent months, although many battery manufacturers have struggled with this, there are still new efforts to curb battery flows south of the border.
In response to the draft report released at the end of last year, the industry group International Battery Committee expressed its opposition to "creating additional cumbersome certification programs ".
"Last year, the US General Services Administration, which was in charge of federal vehicles, asked ASTM International, an independent standards agency, to explore voluntary standards for battery recycling.
However, after the proposal was rejected at a public meeting in December, attended by industry, government and environmental groups, the effort was wasted.
Of the 103 people attending the meeting, 49 worked for Johnson control.