Environmental Education Projects Built Around Feral Battery Research

Feral batteries are consumer batteries that have “run wild” to litter urban pavements. This problem was first identified during a summer 2001 NSF-REU project to measure heavy metals in brownfield soils. The project required field sampling and shopping to replenish consumables. While shopping, batteries were often observed in parking lots. This led to pavement surveys where littered batteries were collected and characterized. The results were startling. Over 2,000 feral batteries were collected. Average surveys yielded 19 batteries, but there was considerable site variability. Survey results are presented to illustrate the potential environmental significance of consumer battery litter. The issue of urban battery litter raises several questions that can be answered by traditional laboratory research. Results of work to measure battery deterioration rates and pollutant release properties are also presented. However, battery litter also raises questions that cannot be answered in the laboratory. Almost nothing is known about the distribution of “hot spot” sites where battery litter rates are high. Developing this information has become the focus of environmental educational projects. Details are presented on a program that has been developed to conduct feral battery surveys as components of K-12 grade educational projects on the environmental implications of batteries, and to partner K-12 student teams with university research. This program offers an opportunity for hands-on education about issues such as heavy metal toxicity, environmental economics, non-point source pollution and recycling. Because this requires off-school activity at busy commercial locations where students collect and characterize what could be thought of as “hazardous” samples, implementation has not been without challenges, but the potential benefits seem to be well worth the efforts required.