ABC Officials in Cook Islands are being criticised for placing around 2,000 potentially hazardous lead batteries on half a dozen remote islands. <\/p>\n
Officials in Cook Islands are being criticised for placing around 2,000 potentially hazardous lead batteries on half a dozen remote islands. <\/p>\n
The batteries are being used to store solar energy to power up the islands at night. <\/p>\n
But an expert in the field, prominent local businessman Steve Anderson, says it is unlikely the batteries will ever be removed once they expire in a few years. <\/p>\n
Mr Anderson told Pacific Beat as the country is made up of many small islands, the logistics of getting heavy items to these islands is extraordinary. <\/p>\n
\"Very often they have to be hand carried or lifted off barges and so on. So the idea that they will come back to be recycled is a very remote possibility,\" he said. <\/p>\n
\"We sort of question whether we should be putting hundreds of tons of lead into these low lying atolls which are only one or two metres above sea level.\" <\/p>\n
Mr Anderson, the owner and director of the Cook Islands based energy company Andersons, proposes the use of lithium ion batteries instead which he says are a safer option. <\/p>\n
\"One problem with lead acid batteries is that they have a limited life of say five to eight years and that's severely restricted as they operate in high temperatures,\" he said. <\/p>\n
\"Lead must be retrieved from the islands and taken to a proper recycling centre which would have to be in our case, New Zealand or Australia.\" <\/p>\n
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Usage of lead batteries in Cook Islands solar project harmful: expert<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ABC Officials in Cook Islands are being criticised for placing around 2,000 potentially hazardous lead batteries on half a dozen remote islands. Continue reading