• @polymerwitch@lemmy.mlM
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    3 years ago

    Their website claims it has a bio-degradable “shell”. It has a warning on it that is standard for lithium-ion batteries (and that would make sense for this type of product). Technically the batteries are recyclable. In fact, they have to be recycled as the battery innards are a safety hazard and toxic to the environment. The best li-ion recyclability rate for a li-ion battery is at 80%. Meaning at best for every 5 produced there will have to be one made from freshly extracted resources. Again, this is the best case scenario, and that still leaves two obvious facts as to why these are not ecologically friendly:

    • Most people will throw them away. I can’t find reliable data on how many batteries are thrown out, but I would be surprised to learn a majority of people recycle old devices with batteries in them or their household batteries. I have trouble imagining someone buying a 12 pack of these and taking the time to go to a recycle center to dispose of them appropriately. The packing and website mention nothing about spent battery collection for recycling.
    • Lithium is mainly harvested from exploited countries like Bolivia. As oil becomes less and less economical for the US and we move to battery powered technologies for cars and such there is no reason to think US imperialism won’t have similar aggressions to lithium rich countries as they have had toward oil rich countries in the middle east. Elon Musk, who uses batteries in his Tesla cars, tweeted “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” when a right-wing government executed a coup in Bolivia which has a large amount of lithium that US industry wants as cheaply as possible.
    • @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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      33 years ago

      Currently USA is also waging war against Xinjiang using the Uyghur genocide propaganda. The real reason behind it is not known by 99% (random number) people - Tarim Basin region having as much oil as Saudi Arabia (Iran oil rival), which USA already controls.

    • ufra
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      3 years ago

      thanks, this could come in handy next holiday season.

      Another point I can use is that iphones (and probably others) charge so fast off empty that all it takes is one kind soul to share their non-disposable outlet or charger for 5 minutes and you’re good to go.