An increasing number of private and public buildings in China have set up battery recycling boxes to collect spent batteries in recent years.

However, compared to the more than 15 billion batteries produced in China every year, the recycling effort is just a drop in the bucket, said Wang Jingzhong, vice-chairman of the board of the Chinese Association of Battery Industry.

Most spent batteries have been tossed into landfills with other garbage or littered the ground, polluting the environment.

"Used batteries eventually break, and then the mercury, nickel, cadmium and other heavy metal elements leak out and get into the water table. That's our drinking water we're contaminating," said Wang.

Heavy metal elements accumulate in the human body, causing damage to the nervous system, kidneys and bones, and may cause cancer, medical experts said.

Since 1998, the Beijing Waste Recycling Centre has collected more than 100 tons of batteries, said centre officials.

However, yearly sales of batteries in the capital city has reached 3,000 tons.

The centre set up a hotline (6356-0015) in April 1998 to help recycling efforts.

In 1998, the centre collected only 7 tons of batteries. In 1999, the number surged to 60 tons. And in the first half of this year, the centre collected more than 50 tons of batteries.

Awareness of recycling and environmental protection has improved, leading to an increase in the amount of batteries collected.

Even with more batteries being collected, they just take up space in storehouses as the country has no processing method to treat them.

"We have done some research and tried to find a proper way for used battery disposal. We visited Germany to learn their techniques and methods," Wang said. "We will visit Japan this September and will submit a proposal on battery disposal to the government this October."

Although China has no battery disposal factories at present, recycling efforts must continue so as to provide enough raw material for future disposal factories, argued Nie Yongfeng, a professor with the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Qinghua University.

There are plans for a future disposal factory which is expected to process 100,000 used batteries a day, bringing up to 20,000 yuan (US$2,409) in net profits, said Nie.

Thirty years ago, Chinese people had to return used batteries to get new ones. China should reinstate the return system, said Nie.

Germany launched the Batteries Ordinance in April 1998, giving manufacturers total responsibility for their products. Via a common return system, the consumer is obligated to return all batteries regardless of type, manufacturer or retailer.

"With the recycling of batteries, various metal items and other materials, our lives can be improved today while we restore and preserve the environment for generations to come," said Wang.