Blacksmith InstituteEmpty car battery casings at a recycler in
India. The following “Your Dot” post, on the toxic trail of lead
left by recycled car batteries, comes from Richard Fuller, the
president of the Blacksmith Institute. This nonprofit group
focuses on ways to clean up glaring pollution problems in poor
places. I first wrote about Fuller and Blacksmith in a 2002
article, “Looking For Messes That Are Easy to Fix.” They’re
still at it. Here’s Fuller’s piece: Several weeks ago, one of
the largest car battery recyclers in the world had its
operations suspended at its plant in Vernon, Calif. The plant,
which recycled about 40,000 lead acid batteries a day, had been
discharging toxic lead into the environment over many years.
While missteps by large recyclers in rich countries make the
news, they are not the main problem with this toxic heavy metal
when the view is global. As car use grows in India, China and
other developing countries, so does the recycling of used
batteries. The issue? Over 50 percent of