Lead From Old U.S. Batteries Sent to Mexico Raises Risks

File d'attente à la frontière entre le Mexique et les Etats-Unis © JOHN MOORE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP


28/12/2011 6:10 pm

The spent batteries Americans turn in for recycling are increasingly being sent to Mexico, where their lead is often extracted by crude methods that are illegal in the United States, exposing plant workers and local residents to dangerous levels of a toxic metal.

The rising flow of batteries is a result of strict new Environmental Protection Agency standards on lead pollution, which make domestic recycling more difficult and expensive, but do not prohibit companies from exporting the work and the danger to countries where standards are low and enforcement is lax.

New York Times