Recycling lead for car batteries

[Donald]

The 3-4-5 year old children "recycling" plastic is about one of the most heart breaking videos I have watched. Most of that plastic did NOT come from the USA.

I have seen similar of young kids in 3rd world countries looking through trash piles for electrical wire. They get a pile and pour gasoline on it to burn off the insulation. Black smoke coming from the fire. Can't be good for your health.

 

[f355spider]

Companies don't want to follow safety or enviro regs or pay taxes.

I would disagree with your first two comments about companies not wanting to follow safety or environmental regulations.
Most companies are fine with it, but want to be on an even playing field with competitors, whether domestically or internationally.
The issue is the cheaters and countries that don't follow the same regulations, make them uncompetitive...which can lead to the company failing and going out of business.

I agree about paying taxes...who "wants" to pay taxes? We do what we must and are obligated to.

 

[f355spider]

Lessons learned about lead in Herculaneum, Missouri.

https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis...nvironmental-cleanup-offers-lessons-for-today

We had an Asarco lead and copper smelter in Tacoma for decades until Asarco went bankrupt.
It took decades to clean up, and is ongoing, but amazing progress has been made, with the site now filled with a huge park, retail and apartments, condominiums, and a marina.
https://ecology.wa.gov/blog/july-2019/new-tacoma-park-emerges-from-superfund-site

 

[zzyzzx]

No idea if the products shown reach the US

Of course they do! Is there really any doubt in your mind?

 

[Chris142]

Exde had a Plant near los angelas and they are still cleaning up the mess.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I worked for a big company out of college. They made consumer and commercial electronics - back when they still did that in the USA. They had dumped PCB's and other stuff "out back" and it was millions and millions to clean it up.

My point is just because lead processing was dirty in the 50's doesn't mean it has to be today. They did lots of stupid back then without a second thought.

 

[f355spider]

I worked for a big company out of college. They made consumer and commercial electronics - back when they still did that in the USA. They had dumped PCB's and other stuff "out back" and it was millions and millions to clean it up.

My point is just because lead processing was dirty in the 50's doesn't mean it has to be today. They did lots of stupid back then without a second thought.

There is a good reason that many Clarios batteries are made in Mexico, China, and Korea. Even with the cost of transporting them to the USA. Wieze AGM batteries out of China are very competitively priced on Amazon compared to familiar USA brands.

 

[f355spider]

There is an article in the NYT talking about a company in Nigeria that recycles lead from car batteries. The lead dust is in the air, the soil and in houses. People get sick. The reporter came back from his visit with headaches.

Another company in Nigeria borrowed millions to recycle lead properly and were constantly outbid and went out of business.

The buyer for the one polluting factory was East Penn.

But this was not an isolated company in Nigeria.

I'd pay a few dollars more for a car battery to have the lead recycled properly. I don't want people in other countries getting sick so I can get a battery a few dollars cheaper.

Here is the article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/18/world/africa/lead-poisoning-car-battery.html
What you failed to mention about East Penn is they claim they were unaware the lead was from Nigeria, as they purchase through a broker:

"In an interview, East Penn executives said that lead shortages forced it to rely on brokers. “Under 5 percent” came from Nigeria, said Chris Pruitt, East Penn’s executive chairman of the board.

Mr. Pruitt said that the company had paid little attention to the provenance of its lead until The Times and The Examination asked questions. East Penn relied on its brokers’ assurances that everything was fine.

“Could that be me being too trusting?” Mr. Pruitt said. “I’ll take that shot.”

East Penn stopped buying Nigerian lead and began tightening its supplier code of conduct after receiving the questions, Mr. Pruitt said. Lead purchases are now subjected to extra scrutiny and executives receive monthly reports about overseas purchases, he added."

 

[Owen Lucas]

The problem (Flint Michigan?) was a combination of old lead pipes and a change in water source that somehow removed a built-up coating (from many years) and then the water was actually flowing and touching the lead pipes. As opposed to having this coating that kind of insulated the water from the lead pipes. All in an effort to save a few bucks. I think that's the basic story (from memory).

I just looked into this and apparently the city tried to save $51,000 a year, about a$140 per day, by not using orthophosphate which would have corrected the PH imbalance from switching to water from the Flint River which was much more corrosive. This ended up stripping away a decades old film inside lead pipes and actually leaching lead into the water.

It appears that even GM had to stop using water from the Flint River because it was corroding engine parts under assembly line. The doctor that found this had a Masters in Public health and started doing blood work on children after she was tipped off by an EPA employee who was a friend that told her that the Flint water treatment plant was skipping corrosion control in their water treatment. Apparently she held the press conference since publishing this data in a peer reviewed process would have taken a long time And it looks like money saving attempt at $51,000 now costs over one and a half billion to replace the pipes in over 600 million in settlements.

 

[Donald]

I just looked into this and apparently the city tried to save $51,000 a year, about a$140 per day, by not using orthophosphate which would have corrected the PH imbalance from switching to water from the Flint River which was much more corrosive. This ended up stripping away a decades old film inside lead pipes and actually leaching lead into the water.

It appears that even GM had to stop using water from the Flint River because it was corroding engine parts under assembly line. The doctor that found this had a Masters in Public health and started doing blood work on children after she was tipped off by an EPA employee who was a friend that told her that the Flint water treatment plant was skipping corrosion control in their water treatment. Apparently she held the press conference since publishing this data in a peer reviewed process would have taken a long time And it looks like money saving attempt at $51,000 now costs over one and a half billion to replace the pipes in over 600 million in settlements.

I mean it's good the lead pipes were replaced but the real tragedy was people drinking tainted water. It's not like you can take a pill or a shot in arm and remove the lead.

I am thinking the experienced people at the water treatment were not involved or over ruled. They would have known.

 

[jghall00]

The NYTimes has published a follow-up story. Unfortunately, nothing in it surprises me. Companies don't want to worry about their supply chain to the extent needed to prevent this level of pollution. It's a distraction, it's difficult, and it's more overhead to manage. This is where gov't is supposed to step in, but of course, that doesn't happen, especially when the costs have been externalized. This mirrors to outsourcing of rare earth materials to China. If it's dirty and polluting, do it elsewhere and deny all knowledge.

 

[Donald]

PBS had a segment on this issue and interviewed the NYT journalist.

They said in some cases small shops finds the batteries and then hacks them apart using matchettes and then the lead plates are pulled out by hand. Then are brought to the smelters in Nigeria where the real pollution occurs.

The workers in Nigeria are paid $1 a day.

 

[jghall00]

Some good news. Glad the story got attention.