Numerous sources argue that the consequences of entering the usual galvanic element into the garbage bucket can be deplorable - the significant area of the Earth is poisoned with heavy metals. We checked how accurate numbers that are common on the Internet are.

Here's what is said on the site Russian geographical society: “It is believed that one finger battery is polluted by lead, mercury and other substances about 20 m² soil, about 400 liters of water. For example, in the forest zone, this is the habitat of two trees, two moles, one hedgehog and several thousand rainworms. ”

Similar information (with an accuracy to the volume of water) can be read on sites of organizations such as Ecological Legal Center "Bellona", Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, Togliatti State University, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan, Prefecture of the Northern Administrative District of the city of Moscowin authoritative media ("Vedomosti", Interfax), as well as on information stands in many Russian schools. The relevant announcements usually precede shares in separate collection of garbage and subbotniks. Often information It goes with reference to the data of the State Biological Museum named after K. A. Timiryazev.

The fact that the correct disposal of galvanic elements (in everyday life called batteries) is very important is known for a long time. The reason for this is heavy metals and toxic chemicals contained in them. With all the variety of types of batteries and the possibilities of their processing Rospotrebnadzor Selects the following general key features of these products.

The battery, even serving its term, is not dangerous, provided that its case is not damaged and it is stored at room temperature and minimum humidity. Getting along with household waste on a landfill and exposed to various atmospheric factors, the battery begins to rust and collapse under the influence of corrosion. The battery body loses tightness, the contents gain access to the external environment, poisoning it and its inhabitants.

Close and heavy metals from the destroyed batteries are a danger to the environment. When entering the soil first, toxic substances reach groundwater, from where the reservoirs fall from nowhere, including those that are carried out by the tie water. Earth and plants growing on them are subjected to chemical pollution, including numerous food crops. The meat and milk of agricultural animals grazing on infected pastures also become dangerous. Not only passive corrosion is dangerous, as a result of which the batteries pollute the soil and water - often the landfills are spontaneous, and the batteries located in the garbage, heated, release dioxins into the atmosphere, infecting air. Dioxins are tens of thousands of cyanide and the cause of cancerous diseases and diseases of the reproductive system.

We will not dwell on the legislative framework and real practice regarding the disposal of batteries in the countries of the world - here the picture is completely different, and it is not directly related to our case. We are interested in a purely quantitative question.

If you try to find the information in English in the title, then there will be a persistent impression that she was born in Russia-the vast majority links lead to English -speaking versions of Russian or near -Russian sites. The earliest mention of the fact in Runet dates from October 25, 2010, when Komsomolskaya Pravda came out article Under the heading of "Save the Hedgehogs - Bring the batteries to us!" In it about square meters, trees, moles, hedgehogs and worms were told by Nizhny Novgorod schoolchildren (though only square meters mentioned the video attached to the video article).

As for alternative data, for example, the leading Chinese newspaper Zhenmin Zibao in 2001 I wrote About pollution 1 m³ soils and 12 m³ water (12,000 l). On the Green Europe page in 2021 mentioned 4 m². But on Ukrainian sites, the picture is somewhat different: in large numbers there is a figure in 16 m² (and on site Chernobyl nuclear power plant - 16 m³). And here we can finally get acquainted with the scientific justification. The fact is that in 2018, volunteers of the project “Battery, give up!” Together with the National University "Lviv Polytechnic" held study, consisting of three stages;

1. Determination of the composition of the studied batteries;
2. Determination of the concentration of chemical elements in the studied samples (chemicals);
3. Calculation of soil pollution with multi -element batteries.

Finger (AA) batteries of 25 models and three types were chosen as the object of the study (seven - salt without lead, eight - alkaline, ten salt with the content of lead). Here, for example, the composition of the battery of one famous brand:

As you can see, 12 chemical elements are immediately presented in this small product, 11 of which are metals.

As a result, by complex mathematical and physical calculations, it was found that one finger battery pollutes about 16.75 m² Square, or 134 m³soil. On the scale of the degree of danger to the soil, this corresponds to the indicator "dangerous". Since this is the most detailed affordable quantitative analysis of the effects of galvanic elements on the environment, you can take it as a sample and summarize: Russian environmentalists, talking about 20 m² polluted area, were quite close to the truth.