Duracell Rechargeable Battery - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Introduction
The usage of rechargeable batteries is really common to most of the gadgets and toys in the market. Digital camera, remote control car, handset phone, to name a few, are products that use battery as a source to supply energy to make them function. Since most of the products have a small size and dimension, and practically handy, the small size batteries will be needed, mainly AA or AAA. "We can save money using rechargeable batteries, rather than the alkaline". This is one of a cliche statements that we normally and constantly say. Or, "We can use them over and over again". Thinking that they could meet with these requirements, or shall I say desires, experts at Duracell has come out with a range of rechargeable battery products. Recently, they have produced a rechargeable battery, based on nickel-metal hydride, or
NiMH, that uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode, generating 2650 milli ampere per hour (mAh). This is an alternative for cadmium that Duracell is trying to apply. It believes to achieve two to three times the capacity of an equivalent size Nickel-cadmium battery.
The Effect of The Supply Chain To The Environment
In United Kingdom, Duracell has named Procter and Gamble (P&G), which is the worlds largest Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company to deal with the delivery. Not just ensuring the status of deliveries to be up-to-date and visible at all times, it is also increasing the efficiency of the delivering process. It is their goal to maintain customers satisfaction by meeting its planned delivery times, and being able to keep in touch constantly. Clearly, this is a good way of keeping aware of any issues, relative to the status of the order. But, how does this affecting the environment? Is this a better way to improve the supply chain? Lets look at a better example of making the supply chain even better.
Phillipine is one of the countries that concerns about greening the supply chain. One of the methods that they have been using is to minimize packaging unless it is unavoidable and use more of bio degradable and returnable packaging. In other words, they are trying to keep the supply chain to be environment-friendly, in the sense of packaging, transporting, and dealing with the waste management.
Here, we can see that Duracell is trying to apply the same effort. As the matter of packaging, Duracell uses only non-toxic ink. The card portion of the package is made from 55% recycled material, while the plastic portion itself is made from 30% recycled plastic. Specifically for
NiMH batteries, a simple storage and transportation is appropriate since its conditions are not subject to regulatory control.
The Impact of Its Design Principles To The Environment
Mercury is one of the chemical toxic elements that being used by the battery manufacturers to prolong the useful life of batteries . But, the hazardous effect that may caused by mercury, if it leaks out of the old batteries, will cause harmful effects, and finally contaminate the environment. It is believed to cause serious damage to the human nervous system and cause various birth defects.
This is why Duracell is taking the responsibility to overcome the problem, and putting more concern regarding the effect of mercury to the environment. As the result of their research, they came out with
NiMH battery. As believed to be environmentally friendly, Duracell is confident that this product can be put for recycling since it contains only mild toxins. The only problem for
NiMH battery is that it has a high maintenance, in the sense that it requires regular full discharge. This is to avoid crystalline formation.
Efforts By Duracell To Improve The Environmental Impact
All these years, Duracell has been carried out advanced research by their experts. It was about few years ago that they have come up with mercury-free batteries. It is claimed that Duracell has voluntarily eliminated all of the added mercury from its batteries since 1993. Regarding on their intention to green the supply chain, Duracell has put an action by stopping the use of mercury in their products. So, by carrying the "no mercury added" sign, this will help to convince the consumers to use their product, and will highlight the advantages of its mercury-free. This really shows that Duracell is concern about the effect of their product to the environment.
In order to bring back to the society, Duracell has also provided with some guidances and tips to manage worn-out batteries. One of the tips is to avoid disposing batteries in fire, as they could explode. Since the product can be assumed as normal household waste, they may be disposed or recycled where possible.
References:-
A personal review on how to take care of the
NiCD or
NiMH batteries, by Stefan Vorkoetter originally appeared in the September 2001 issue of
QuietFlyer magazine, from
http://www.stefanv.com/rcstuff/qf200109.html
A riview for Duracell 2650 mAh
NiMH Rechargeable Batteries from a photography blog, written by Mark Goldstein dated May 25, 2006, from
http://www.photographyblog.com/news/duracell_2650_mah_nimh_rechargeable_batteries/
Advantages and disadvantages of the Nickel Metal Hydride (
NiMH) Battery, written by: Prof. Ilga Jurkelo; article published: year 2006, month 12, from
http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-disadvantages-of-the-Nickel-Metal-Hydride-(NiMH)-Battery/
An article about Duracell by Wikipedia, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duracell
An article regarding on baterry recycling, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_recycling
Battery recycling, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_recycling
Do
NiMH batteries have memory effect? posted on Apr 12, 2009, from
http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/205343/Do-NiMH-batteries-have-memory-effect%3F
Duracell produces mercury-free alkaline battery, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3457/is_n9_v10/ai_12241507/
Energizer launches world's first mercury free zinc air hearing aid battery, from
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=64615
Greening of the supply chain management, By: Rao, Purba Publication: Journal of Asia Business Studies Date: Thursday, March 22 2007 from
http://www.articlearchives.com/environment-natural-resources/environmentalism/1477431-1.html
Product from Duracell specifically for rechargeable batteries, from
http://www.duracell.com/products/rechargeables_2650.asp
Technical Documents On Battery Maintenance, from
http://www.batterycare.co.uk/techdocs_display.asp?TechCatID=9& gclid=CNW8isrlz5oCFQVaFQodxlH-2A
The fundamental knowledge of the
NiMH battery, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_metal_hydride_battery
The general facts about the rechargeable batteries from Duracell website,
http://www.duracell.com/uk/faq.aspx#rechargeable
The products manufactured by Duracell, from
http://www.duracell.com/procell/products/ultra.asp
The Supply Chain Logistic System, from
http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/sapm/2008-2009/coursework/SupplyChainLogisticsSystem.pdf
What’s the Harm in Batteries? Posted on March 20th, 2009 in Energy by Cathy, from
http://www.greenecoservices.com/whats-the-harm-in-batteries/
