However, relevant persons of the State Environmental Protection Administration believe that waste batteries do not need to be recycled centrally. Previous reports on the harm of waste batteries to the environment lacked scientific basis and misled the masses to some extent. So, how to deal with waste batteries is scientific? This paper briefly introduces this problem to help you understand the disposal of waste batteries more scientifically and protect our environment better.
What pollutants are there in waste batteries?
Professor Nie Yongfeng, doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, led the research group to study the harm and treatment of waste batteries. He said that in recent years, there have been many reports about the harm of waste batteries to the environment, but unfortunately, these reports did not explain the scientific research content supporting their conclusions to readers or viewers, did not introduce their analysis and reasoning process to readers, and did not list the actual cases of pollution caused by dry batteries, only the conclusion of "serious pollution".
What harmful substances are contained in waste batteries, and through what mechanism are these substances released into the environment, and how much damage will they cause to the environment? Are there any cases of serious pollution caused by waste dry batteries at home and abroad, and how do developed countries solve this problem? With questions, the research group made a comprehensive and in-depth investigation, and the conclusions reached were far from some news reports, unrealistic and extreme.
Professor Nie said that battery products can be divided into three categories: primary dry batteries (ordinary dry batteries), secondary dry batteries (rechargeable batteries, mainly used in mobile phones and computers) and lead-acid batteries (mainly used in automobiles). Ordinary dry batteries are widely used, concerned by the masses and reported the most. The batteries mentioned below all refer to ordinary dry batteries.
The battery mainly contains iron, zinc, manganese and so on. In addition, it also contains a small amount of mercury, which is toxic. It is reported that the battery contains mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic and other substances, which is inaccurate. In fact, ordinary dry batteries used by ordinary people do not need to be added with substances such as cadmium, lead and arsenic in the production process.
Mercury in waste batteries does not pose a threat to the environment.
Mercury has a low volatilization temperature and is a very toxic heavy metal. Soil in many places also contains trace amounts of mercury. In the process of mining, refining and processing mercury-containing products, if the sealing measures are not perfect, the mercury (vapor) released into the air will have a great impact on the health of operators.
Although the battery contains mercury, it contains little because it is an additive. Even for high mercury batteries, the mercury content is generally less than one thousandth of the battery weight. The annual mercury consumption of the battery industry in China is roughly equivalent to the mercury content in the wastewater discharged by a mercury-based PVC, mercury-based alchemy or high-mercury lead-zinc mining enterprise every year. Due to the large consumption area of batteries, the impact of mercury-containing waste batteries on the environment after entering the domestic waste treatment system is far less than the discharge of mercury-containing wastewater from a chemical enterprise mentioned above. In addition, the battery is covered by stainless steel or carbon steel, effectively preventing mercury leakage. Therefore, the waste batteries are scattered and discarded in domestic garbage, which is not harmful and objectively will not cause harm such as Minamata disease. The Minamata disease in Japan is caused by chemical enterprises discharging a large amount of mercury-containing wastewater into rivers for decades, and mercury gradually accumulates in downstream water systems.
Mercury-containing batteries are being replaced by mercury-free batteries.
Of course, waste batteries containing mercury have a negative impact on the environment (even slightly). Therefore, at the end of 1997, nine departments, including the State Economic and Trade Commission and China National Light Industry Federation, jointly issued the Regulations on Limiting the Mercury Content of Batteries, drawing on the experience of developed countries, requiring domestic battery manufacturers to gradually reduce the mercury content of batteries, so as to make the batteries sold in China reach a low mercury level in 2002 and a mercury-free level in 2006.
Judging from the actual progress, the domestic battery manufacturing industry is gradually reducing the mercury content of batteries according to the requirements of laws and regulations. According to the data provided by China Battery Industry Association, the annual output of batteries in China is 654.38+0.8 billion, the export is about 654.38+0 billion, and the domestic annual consumption is about 8 billion, which has basically reached the low mercury standard (the mercury content is less than 0.025% of the battery weight). About 2 billion of them only meet the mercury-free standard (the mercury content is less than 0.00 1% of the battery weight).
Professor Nie finally stressed that up to now, there are no reports and scientific research materials on serious pollution caused by waste batteries at home and abroad, and the statement that waste batteries pollute the environment really lacks scientific basis and misleads the masses.
Improper centralized recycling of waste batteries will cause pollution.
Is it feasible to build a professional factory in China that can process waste batteries in batches, as some reports have called for? Peng Defu, an engineer in the Solid Division of the Pollution Control Department of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said that to build a waste battery recycling plant, it needs to invest more than RMB 10 million, and at least 4,000 tons of waste batteries must be recycled every year before the factory can operate. In fact, it is very difficult to recycle such a large number of waste batteries. Take the capital Beijing as an example. With vigorous publicity and encouragement, more than 200 tons were recovered in three years. In Hangzhou, a model city of environmental protection, the recovery rate of waste batteries is only 10%. It is understood that at present, two factories that can process and utilize waste batteries have been built in Switzerland and Japan, and now they are often shut down due to lack of food. This has to make us seriously consider investing in the construction of recycling plants.
Peng Defu also said that another way to deal with these centralized storage waste batteries is to bury or store them centrally according to the treatment method of hazardous waste, but it takes three or four thousand yuan to treat one ton like this, and it faces the problem of no funds. It is understood that a small enterprise in Sichuan province, under the banner of "environmental protection", used primary school students to help them break the collected waste batteries with hammers on Saturday and Sunday, recycle valuable battery casings and sell them as scrap iron, and discard the residues at will. Waste batteries do not pose a threat to the environment. It is very important that the battery should be covered with stainless steel or carbon steel, which can effectively prevent mercury leakage. The stainless steel or carbon steel sheath outside the waste battery is broken, and the mercury inside is easy to seep out. In this way, the harmful substances in the battery pollute the environment and damage the health of primary school students. This is absolutely not allowed and must be strictly prohibited.
Advantages and constraints of China's backwardness in environmental issues
In the process of industrialization and urbanization in China, environmental problems have increasingly become one of the challenges that must be faced. The problem of environmental deterioration that developed countries once encountered in the process of development began to appear in China. In some areas, the situation has become quite serious, affecting people's quality of life and health, and endangering local sustainable development ability. Relevant state departments also put forward the concept of green GDP in due course, demanding local governments to set up Scientific Outlook on Development, realize the coordinated development of economy, environment and society, and strive to get rid of the current extensive economic growth model and take a new road of industrialization. So, how can we avoid repeating the mistake of "pollution first, then treatment"? What are the existing advantages and constraints of China?
Compared with Europe and America, China has a late-comer advantage in the process of industrialization. The so-called latecomer advantage means that you can quickly upgrade your technology by introducing and imitating advanced technology. This model has been proved to be effective in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other countries, and it is also being carried out in China. The advantage of backwardness is not only applicable to the economic field, but also effective in the field of environmental protection. Of course, the specific details are different and can be divided into the following four items:
(1) Environmental problems that will occur in the process of industrialization and urbanization have repeatedly appeared in western countries and newly industrialized countries, and the theory and practice of their causes, problems and solutions are quite mature. In other words, developed countries have already acted as "experimental factories", and we don't need to take the same detour again. For example, photochemical smog in Los Angeles, USA, first appeared in1July 1943, and it was not until 1950 that ozone was found to be the chief culprit of pollution, and it was not until the early 1970s that effective measures were found to reduce the ozone concentration. This is a long and difficult exploration process for the pioneers, but for the latecomers, it can be applied directly, or even taken precautions to prevent similar situations from happening again.
(2) The pollution control and treatment technologies in developed countries are relatively mature. China can directly introduce and imitate these technologies, and carry out industrialization at a higher starting point, without repeating the scene of smoke and dust rolling and sewage cross-flow in the early industrialized countries. For example, in metallurgical and chemical industries with high energy consumption and heavy pollution, the level of cleaner production technology in China is not the same as that in the early stage of industrialization in Europe and America, no matter whether complete sets of equipment are imported or developed by itself. With the rapid development of information technology, it is a good opportunity for us to popularize and apply these technologies to replace the traditional production and work mode and promote industrialization with informationization. Not only can the technology gap be narrowed quickly, but also the leap from agricultural country to industrial country can be realized in a short time with less energy and material consumption, and the damage to the environment can be reduced.
(3) European and American countries have formulated a set of laws and regulations on environmental protection, and also formulated corresponding environmental quality standards. China can learn from their experiences and practices, and formulate environmental protection laws in light of its own actual situation. It should be emphasized that these laws in Europe and America were formulated under the conditions of market economy in order to deal with the environmental problems caused by market failure. This is of great reference value for perfecting China's market economic system, regulating economic operation by law rather than administrative means, and reducing environmental costs. Of course, China has formulated a series of laws aimed at protecting the environment, such as the Environmental Protection Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) promulgated by 1989, the Environmental Noise Pollution Prevention Law promulgated by 1996, and the Water Pollution Protection Law promulgated by 1984 and revised by 1996. However, with the transition of economic system, the development of technical level and the more scientific legislative work, these laws and standards formulated in different periods and under different circumstances will be revised and improved step by step to play a better role.
With the rapid integration of China into the world economic system, China is increasingly influenced by other countries, especially developed countries, and environmental problems are no exception. China, in particular, has made great efforts to develop its export-oriented economy, and exports have become one of the troika driving economic growth. China's environmental standards can no longer be formulated only according to its own actual situation, and will inevitably be influenced or pressured by foreign countries. If we take the initiative to say the above points, this one is passive, but it can also promote our environmental protection work. For example, China's exports of Japanese vegetables and honey to the European Union were rejected because of the other side's strict food safety standards. Domestic producers have to abide by each other's standards in order to export. This compulsory mode of production will also provide a model for food production in China and contribute to food safety in China. In addition, the expansion of foreign exchanges has also promoted environmental protection. For example, in order to bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing put forward the slogan of "Green Olympics" in view of Beijing's environmental problems, and formulated a series of pollution control measures: moving polluting enterprises out of the urban area; Optimize the urban energy structure; Establish a sewage treatment plant; Prevention and control of vehicle exhaust pollutant pollution, etc. The Olympic bid has obviously objectively promoted the improvement of Beijing's environment.
However, although China has a late-developing advantage in environmental protection, it does not mean that China can inevitably avoid the problem of environmental deterioration. Because every country's industrialization comes first and then comes, every latecomer can learn from the experience of the pioneers, but almost all of them have encountered environmental problems. For example, Japan is a typical developed country, which is famous for its good study and reference. After World War II, there have been environmental accidents such as Minamata disease, osteodynia and rice bran oil incident in Japan. Lake Biwako, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, has not been able to get rid of the fate of serious pollution, and it has spent huge sums of money on governance, and the water quality has not been fundamentally improved so far. Mexico, Thailand and other newly industrialized countries have also paid a huge environmental price. Mexico City and Bangkok are the most polluted cities in the world. There are not only ineffective policies and measures, but also practical difficulties and constraints. As far as China is concerned, there are similar problems faced by other countries and their own special circumstances, which are summarized as follows:
(A) the contradiction between advanced technology required by clean production and circular economy and backward social reality. Cleaner production and circular economy are effective ways to meet people's material needs and avoid environmental pollution, which have gradually become a reality in developed countries. But it is very difficult to realize in China at this stage.
The equipment needed for cleaner production is often expensive and high in technology, which exceeds China's current economic strength and technical level. At present, most of the most dynamic and fastest-growing private economies in China are small in scale, short of funds, with low cultural quality of employees and few skilled workers. Either it is impossible to introduce advanced equipment, or no one will operate it after the introduction of equipment, and most enterprises are still in a relatively primitive state. State-owned enterprises have relatively good technical and financial conditions and a long development time, but most of them are also in an extensive and backward stage. Previously, foreign companies with high hopes only regarded China as a supply place for cheap labor and a market for selling products, and most of them used technologies eliminated and transferred from abroad, which was not satisfactory in environmental protection.
Circular economy requires social and economic activities to take "reduction, reuse and recycling" (3R) as the code of conduct, which requires not only advanced technology, but also higher requirements for management, regulations and people's living habits. At present, our development level is far from these standards. For example, the recycling of waste batteries is of great significance and low cost, but its promotion in China is not satisfactory. It shows that environmental protection is not only restricted by technology, but also influenced by social civilization.
(2) The contradiction between the heavy environmental pressure and the employment needs of a large number of school-age population. At present, China's employment pressure is very prominent, especially in rural areas, where there are a large number of surplus labor. Judging from the development process that most countries have gone through, they will all migrate to cities.
From the perspective of environmental protection, the migration of rural population to cities will reduce the damage to rural natural ecology, and urbanization is an effective way to save and utilize resources. Because a large number of concentrated people in cities make the use of land, transportation and public facilities very efficient, if the larger the production scale of an enterprise, the lower the cost, and the city also has such economies of scale, then the larger its scale, the higher the effective utilization rate of resources, and the more it can provide employment opportunities for more people. However, this scale benefit also needs complete supporting measures, such as convenient transportation, clean drinking water, sewage and garbage disposal capacity, which are lacking in a backward area. Behind the rapid urbanization in many developing countries are a large number of unemployed urban poor and poor living conditions in residential areas. This environmental situation not only harms people's health, but also poses a threat to social stability.
With the economic development of China and the gradual relaxation of the hukou system, the pace of urbanization will be accelerated, and the problems faced by many developing countries will gradually become a reality in China. Among all kinds of environmental problems brought by urbanization, the most important one is water. China is one of the few countries in the world with insufficient water resources per capita, especially in North China and Northwest China. But there are no sewage treatment plants in many cities, especially in small and medium-sized cities. Although some cities have sewage treatment plants, they can't be put into use because of lack of funds, which is useless. Therefore, the shortage of water resources and water pollution have the same effect, which makes the water-deficient areas worse and threatens the sustainable development of the city. This makes the way to solve employment by relying on urbanization face bottlenecks.
(c) Reducing the contradiction between pollutant discharge and the current industrialization process in China. In the era of heavy chemical industry, the growth rate of energy and raw materials is equal to or even greater than the economic growth rate, which makes China's environment face a severe test in the next twenty years or so.
In the past twenty years, China's economic development is mainly manifested in light industry, which is closely related to people's daily life. These industries have relatively little impact on the environment, while China's economy has quadrupled and its energy consumption has only doubled. Nevertheless, due to the huge population and the rapid improvement of people's living conditions, in 2003, the whole country consumed 65.438+06 billion tons of coal, 300 million tons of iron ore, 246 million tons of steel, 65.438+065438+078 million tons of alumina and 850 million tons of cement. They account for 365%, 438+0%, 30%, 27%, 25% and 40% of the total world consumption respectively. These proportions have exceeded the proportion of China's population in the world, and these figures are still growing rapidly. Due to the increase of consumption, the emission of pollutants has also increased rapidly. In 2003, the total discharge of major pollutants in China increased by 12%, smoke and dust by 5% and dust by 8%. Of course, with the improvement of technology, the total amount of pollutants will start to decrease after reaching a peak, but this process takes a long time and costs a lot.
China's energy structure is also one of the reasons for serious pollution. The proportion of coal in China's energy consumption is too high, which has been around 70%. Compared with oil and natural gas, coal is much more polluted in the stages of mining, transportation and consumption. However, China's oil and natural gas reserves are not enough to meet domestic demand, and it can't replace coal at this stage. New energy sources, such as solar energy and wind energy, are still in the primary stage, and nuclear energy has only been developed in a limited way. With the arrival of industrialization, China's environment will face greater pressure because of its energy structure.
(D) The contradiction between the increasing grain demand and the overloaded cultivated land. The food problem has always been the top priority of the government. The first stage of China's reform is to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people. With the improvement of people's living standards and the adjustment of dietary structure, the per capita grain consumption will continue to increase. However, China's extremely limited arable land, coupled with the land that will be occupied by industrial and urban development, has limited growth potential for providing food.
& gt Lester, Director of Worldwatch Institute? Lester Brown's article "Who Will Feed China" aroused strong repercussions. We feed 22% of the population with 7% of the world's land, but our current food self-sufficiency rate is at the expense of huge environmental costs: lakes shrink, wetlands disappear, soil erosion is serious, and soil quality deteriorates. It is a feasible way to import grain moderately and reduce the pressure on domestic land. But food is a special commodity. Even if Professor Brown's prediction does not appear, the international market can still provide enough food. For security reasons, we can't rely too much on foreign markets.
& gt Therefore, under the situation that people's food demand is increasing and the cultivated land area will be further reduced due to the development of industry, cities and roads, how to determine the appropriate import ratio, reduce the domestic environmental pressure, avoid deforestation, and ensure the implementation of the policy of returning farmland to forests while realizing the strategic security of food is a subject that needs wisdom and foresight.
(5) The contradiction between increasingly liberal economic policies and effective government supervision. In the process of transition from planned economy to market economy, environmental pollution occurs because the corresponding laws and policies can not be changed in time and the corruption of supervision departments leads to the lack of effective supervision of enterprises.
Economists call the cause of environmental pollution market failure, that is, when the invisible hand of the market optimizes the allocation of resources, it cannot effectively allocate public resources such as air and water that do not need to spend money. When an enterprise is not supervised, it will often damage public resources for the maximization of its own interests, making the whole society pay the price for these enterprises.
At this time, it is necessary to rely on legal means to restrain the behavior of enterprises. From the experience of developed countries, this is a very effective means. But in China, due to historical reasons, people's legal consciousness is relatively indifferent. Although a large number of laws and regulations have been formulated to protect the natural environment and natural resources, their functions are limited. In order to solve the problems of employment and fiscal revenue, some government departments turn a blind eye to the environmental pollution behavior of some enterprises. There are also some enterprises that do not abide by environmental laws and regulations and secretly arrange privately; What's more, some enterprises collude with some personnel in the supervision department for their own selfish interests, ignoring the long-term interests of the people, so that the law can not achieve practical results.
Although only five factors affecting the environment are listed above, the environmental situation is the result of the interaction of society, economy, policy and technology, and these factors also influence each other. What we pursue is the coordinated development of economy and environment. If we gain material wealth and excessively destroy the environment on which we live, then we will put the cart before the horse. The blowout accident in Kaixian County, Chongqing at the end of 2003 and the pollution accident in Tuojiang River, Sichuan Province at the beginning of 2004 are both very serious accidents in history. This gives us a wake-up call, indicating that the development of industry will always bring by-products, whether in the East or the West.
In order to effectively protect the environment while developing the economy, China has put forward the goal of taking a new road to industrialization according to its actual situation, which is a far-sighted move. If this lofty goal can be achieved, it will be a miracle in the history of human development, because it will benefit not only the people of China, but also the whole world. However, from putting forward the goal to becoming a reality, it needs the efforts of experts and scholars in the environmental protection department and the joint efforts of various industries. We should not only understand our own advantages, but also understand the constraints. Only with a broader vision and wiser vision than others, and with more arduous exploration and struggle, can we solve the existing problems and achieve this goal.