Although portable electronic devices have transformed just about every aspect of
our lives, they’ve left a lengthy stream of waste in their wake. Each year,
US consumers buy up to 5.4 billion batteries each year to keep their
precious devices running, with the average person burning through eight
single-use batteries per
year.
Whether that’s due to battery industry marketing or a lack of circular design
thinking
from manufacturers, batteries are a huge
problem
— as they often end up in landfills, where they leak harmful chemicals into the
earth (not to mention the ongoing emissions
output from
production and transportation of these products).
“If we do the math into the future, the faster we can change, the better,”
Paleblue founder Tom Bishop told Sustainable
Brands™.
Bishop’s Utah-based startup produces a first-of-its-kind, USB-rechargeable
battery that comes in a range of the most common sizes and four individual
charging connectors per cord. While the cost of admission is relatively high (as
much as $30 for a two-pack) he notes that the cost balances out after 5-6 uses
— especially considering Paleblue’s batteries meet the industry standard
1,000-charge lifecycle before they begin to lose any charge (they’ll retain up
to 80 percent of their charge for some time longer after that).
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“I had the earliest batteries, and I’m still using them — and the vast majority
of what we’ve sold is still very early in its lifestyle,” he says, noting the
company only started in earnest in 2019.
Building market share outside of the US
Bishop says that he’s had the most success to date outside of the US — in places
such as Switzerland, France, Japan and the Nordic countries —
“where they’re a few steps ahead of us in terms of more sustainable products and
business.”
He says he has a team in Europe helping to get batteries into the hands of
savvy consumers there while working to scale where it makes sense to do so. He’s
also hoping to get ahead of a global population shift into the middle class
where more mobility may mean more need for reusable batteries.
“People are using batteries in plenty of ways we can’t imagine,” he adds.
He also thinks that starting kids young with the ability to use rechargeable
batteries will help create a foundation of using them for life, rather than
reaching for single-use. He envisions a future where everything from computer
mouses to outdoor gear could be powered by flexible, rechargeable batteries.
“If we can harness everything we’re doing to support (industry growth), we can
set the bar for every other business. We believe that customers will encourage
other businesses to enter into the (rechargeable) space,” he says.
‘Still a small drop in a large bucket’
Bishop concedes that Paleblue is still a ways away from competing on a larger
scale with the major players in the battery space, and has much work to do to
become a closed-loop product.
“We can’t really reintegrate our materials yet,” he says.
The key is access to lithium (to power the company’s lithium-ion batteries) and
Bishop is monitoring potential big lithium mines in
Nevada. But
because scalable mining in the US is not a done
deal,
he estimates a viable domestic supply chain is still years away.
A longer-term goal would be to produce the batteries closer to individual
sources of lithium, but that requires integrated development of lithium sources
around the world — which, as the Nevada mine example shows, is still very much a
work in progress.
Battery recycling still in its infancy
In a white
paper
Paleblue published in December, the company outlined the dangers of battery
waste: leaking chemicals into landfills (and subsequent leakage into waterways),
long-term exposure to some of these chemicals and the physical bulk of the
batteries, just to name a few.
The summary is that at least in the US, states have been largely tasked with
trying to manage battery waste on their own, even after a 1996 Congressional
bill
mandated that batteries become less toxic. And while intrepid startups such as
Aceleron
have innovated to ensure we’re getting every last drop of energy from our
lithium-ion batteries, the industry at large has yet to follow suit.
More than 25 years since that Congressional mandate, the world is still dealing
with millions of pounds of annual battery waste; and the problem doesn’t seem to
be going away anytime soon. Paleblue estimates that wide-scale adoption of
rechargeable batteries could save 126,350 metric tons of batteries from filling
US landfills each year, with an immeasurable reduction in chemical leakage.
Bishop sees potential industry transformation on the horizon, but the speed and scale
remain unclear.
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Geoff is a freelance journalist and copywriter focused on making the world a better place through compelling copy. He covers everything from apparel to travel while helping brands worldwide craft their messaging. In addition to Sustainable Brands, he's currently a contributor at Penta, AskMen.com, Field Mag and many others. You can check out more of his work at geoffnudelman.com.
Published Mar 4, 2022 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET