Basel Study in Central America and the Caribbean
Report of Colombia Project
Ministry of the Environment of Colombia (MMA)
National Center of Cleaner Production and Environmental Technology
(CNPMLTA); with the support of the University of Antioquia (U of A)
Executive Summary
Stage II of the project for the Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead Acid Batteries
in Central America and the Caribbean is the evaluation and analytical phase that will be used to
increase the capacity and environmental performance for the sound management of this
hazardous waste, as agreed at the XVI meeting of the Basel Convention Technical Working
Group. The objective of this phase was to carry out a preliminary diagnosis of the requirements
for the implementation of a national and sub-regional scheme for the environmentally sound
handling of used lead acid batteries. In Colombia, information for the technical study was
gathered from the recycling facilities from five representative cities by sampling companies from
both the formal and informal sectors.
Key elements of the analysis identified were the battery applications; the sources of used lead
acid batteries and the collection and storage procedures.
Used lead acid batteries are recycled because lead is a scarce resource and therefore a
valuable commodity. The recycling plants are located in those areas of the country where there
is the greatest consumption of lead.
It can be said that in Colombia almost all the domestic used batteries are recycled, thanks to
collection infrastructure that the recycling industry has established by own initiative. Whilst the
used lead acid batteries attract a market value, commercial discounts on new batteries are
offered to customers if they return the used battery to the retail outlet to be collected for
recycling.
Used lead acid batteries can be found in all the regions of the country, but there is not as much
scope to develop the collection process in urban areas as there is in the rural communities.
Obviously this is because the urban areas, particularly those metropolitan regions that contain
several municipalities, are the most competitive regarding energy consumption, manpower,
transport and so can secure their feedstock.
Currently in Columbia there is a surplus in the marketplace for recycled lead for the manufacture
and reconditioning of lead acid batteries. Consequently, this surplus is exported for
reprocessing elsewhere, rendering Columbia a net exporter of lead waste.
It is uncertain, however, that there is any record of the transboundary shipment of any used lead
acid batteries, as the Ministry of the Environment has not received or authorized any
applications for the trans-frontier movement of hazardous waste as required by the Basel
Convention despite the fact that certain groups of managers from the industry confirmed that
there is a trade in used batteries from Columbia to Venezuela. The dynamics of this trade in
surplus used lead acid batteries is determined by the economics of supply and demand and the
international price of leaded scrap material, and such uncertain conditions are conducive to the
existence of an established black market traffic in lead waste.
What is clearly evident is that the flow of leaded waste is on a national scale and this is deduced
from the evidence left by the electrolyte residues. This also indicates that the commercial trade
is in drained used lead acid batteries.
Since Colombia has an inadequate infrastructure for the administration and management of the
surplus scrap batteries, the existence of legal restrictions and charges for the trans-frontier
shipment of hazardous waste from one country to another is unlikely to deter the growth of trade
in this commodity.
The recycling process begins when the used lead acid battery, once deposited in a collection
center, is collected by a dealer, who in turn offers the scrap to either a merchant, a reconditioner
or a secondary lead smelter. A considerable amount of this scrap is cannibalized, either partially
or completely, and the individual components, such as the battery plates and the plastic cases
are sold to either the battery reconditioners, for battery parts or the secondary lead plants for
recycling into refined lead ingots for the manufacture of new batteries.
The scrap dealers will buy and sell the used batteries or the components as scrap and plastic
remnants, distributing them to the reconditioning workshops and especially the lead smelters for
production of lead bullion and refined lead for the manufacture of new lead acid batteries.
As regards the collection and storage of used lead acid batteries, there are those who are
dedicated to just collecting leaded scrap materials, including whole or parts of used batteries.
Such businesses have invested capital in tools and machines, infrastructure and experienced
personnel.
Recycling plants operate over a wide spectrum of technology, from the most basic to quite
sophisticated, and accordingly to an equally wide degree of environmental proficiency. There
are also marked differences in production costs between the small-scale recyclers and the
larger established secondary lead producers due to the relatively lower production costs
amongst the smaller or “informal sector” plants. The lower production costs incurred by the
informal sector is reflected by the impact of their poor environmental performance and the
significant problems associated with occupational health.
The three main technology categories for used battery recyclers in the secondary lead industry
can be summarized as:



Low technology, characterized by the preponderance of manual activities and little or no
mechanization.
Technology that employs furnaces for smelting the leaded scrap and has a degree of
mechanization, which, for example, will permit the separation and recovery of the plastic
case material.
Process technology that, in addition to producing high value battery alloys and unlike the
two previous examples, includes pollution control systems to minimize plant emissions.
The workers employed in the secondary lead industry are exposed to smoke and dust inhalation
as they undertake their normal daily duties. The occupational risks of the workers are to a large
extent self imposed because they do not understand the need for personal protective equipment
due mainly to a poor understanding of the risks involved and a distinctive lack of interest in their
well-being on the part of the managers who are not committed to improving occupational health
amongst the workforce. The vast majority of the workers were unaware of the risks to human
health associated with lead exposure.
The wide ranges of ages and experience observed amongst the workers of this industry sector
indicates that only a rudimentary level of basic training is required to be employed in the
recovery of lead from used batteries. Since people do not need to be coerced to work in the
industry, employment tends to be based on “cash in hand” informal self employed contracts,
which will very often exempt the employer of direct responsibility for the employees' health.
One interesting aspect is the absence of established Unions that would traditionally champion
process improvements in occupational health in secondary lead industry operations at the
enterprise level to reduce occupational exposure and minimize the environmental impact.
Colombian legislation for the protection of the environment and occupational health is covered
under those instruments related to the production and consumption of dangerous substances,
such as the lead and acid sulfuric content contained in used lead acid batteries, but the laws are
particularly ineffective in this sector of industry. The scarce resources, the cultural and economic
conditions prevailing in Columbia inhibits the development of any State infrastructure to
organize, regulate, monitor and control the atmosphere emissions detrimental to health, and
furthermore to instigate the necessary capital investment in all the sectors that would mitigate
the risks of contamination and reduce possibility of exposure to hazardous wastes.
For sound environmental management of used lead acid batteries and indeed any hazardous
leaded waste, the environmental policy should be formulated and support three key principles:
"Fairness", a preventive position to ensure that whoever contaminates will be held responsible
for decontamination. As the earth is a complex system and it is difficult to forecast the long-term
effects of the environmental contamination, it is necessary to introduce such a code.
In Colombia there is already an “Integrated Policy for Handling Residues" (1998) that is based in
these principles and in particular, prevention. Therefore there are sufficient reasons to believe
that in years to come there will be a program of investment in both educational and
technological improvements in this sector, and especially in those industries that recycle
hazardous residues. Such a program imposed on an organization should involve union
participation and set in place a series of incentives and penalties with strict health controls and
atmospheric emission standards for the State environmental and occupational health
enforcement agencies.