Are Rechargeable Batteries Better for the Environment?
It is easy to make blanket claims about consumer products with the expectation that very few people will check up on them. A case in point is claiming that a particular product is better for the environment than a competing product. But is that always true? For example, are rechargeable batteries better for the environment than their disposable counterparts?
First and foremost, it depends on who you ask. But even such disagreements aside, the environmental friendliness of rechargeable batteries really depends heavily on how you define the terms. There are some aspects of rechargeable batteries that are definitely better for the environment. There are other aspects that are not.
It is simply not appropriate to make a blanket statement about rechargeable batteries and environmental friendliness. Any such statements have to be quantified. They have to be supported by an appropriate definition of the terms. The rest of this post illustrates the principle by way of several different means of measuring environmental friendliness.