More than 99 percent of lead batteries are recycled, making them the most recycled consumer product in the U.S. Each year, nearly 13.5 million of those lead batteries are recycled in Southeast Missouri at The Doe Run Company’s (Doe Run) Resource Recycling facility.

Doe Run’s facility is one of the largest single-site lead recycling facilities in the world, making it a vital link in the modern, closed-loop recycling system that in total keeps more than 1.7 million tons of lead batteries out of U.S. landfills each year.

“Doe Run and its Southeast Missouri operations actually drive two important steps in the lead battery cycle,” said Anthony Staley, general manager at Doe Run’s Resource Recycling facility. “First, our operations provide the lead concentrates needed to manufacture specialty batteries that require primary lead. Then, when lead batteries are at the end of their life, we recycle the batteries to recover plastic, and to produce valuable metal alloys to be used again and again in battery manufacturing.”

Lead batteries offer an environmentally sustainable battery technology for everything from cars to forklifts to renewable energy facilities. The 99 percent lead battery recycling rate far surpasses other commonly recycled products, like newspapers at a 63 percent recycling rate and aluminum cans at a 55 percent recycling rate. Lead batteries are also far more sustainable than lithium-ion batteries, which are recycled at a rate of less than 5 percent. Learn more about lead batteries at essentialenergyeveryday.com.

“Recycling week is a good time to look around your garage or storage shed to see if you have any old lead batteries and bring them to a local battery retailer for recycling,” said Staley. “All major Missouri battery retailers will offer an exchange amount on a new battery purchase with a returned battery. If you are not purchasing a new battery, your spent battery can also be sold to battery retailers or scrap metal collection facilities.”

About The Doe Run Company

Based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, The Doe Run Company is a privately held natural resources company and a global provider of lead, copper and zinc concentrates. Dedicated to environmentally responsible mineral and metal production, Doe Run operates one of the world’s largest, single-site lead recycling centers, located in Boss, Missouri, and mines from one of the world’s largest lead mining districts, also in Missouri. The Doe Run Company and its subsidiaries deliver products and services necessary to provide power, protection and convenience. Doe Run has operations in Missouri, Washington and Arizona. For more information, visit www.doerun.com.

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