Why shouldn't batteries be thrown in the trash? Why is this dangerous? Why you shouldn't take out the trash in the evening Why you shouldn't throw batteries in the trash.

You cannot take trash out of your home after sunset. This statement can be heard from people, even educated people who are far from superstitions and omens. Either they are covering up laziness with the ban, or there are serious reasons.

Let's explore this problem from all sides. Why can't you take out the trash in the evening? What signs and superstitions have come to us from ancient times? What modern versions of the ban exist? How to properly get rid of unnecessary things?

Why don't they take out the trash in the evening?

Men like to “hide behind” this omen: they’ve been at work all day, and then they remember about the trash can... Anyone in their right mind and with a certain degree of fatigue and laziness would happily run to the trash bin. But there are also reasonable explanations for the ban. It’s evening, it’s getting darker, there are more adventure lovers on the streets (especially in residential areas)... It’s better to fulfill your duty during the day.

Modern explanation

Reasons for the ban not related to signs and superstitions. But quite real. Don't neglect the basics of safety when you plan to carry trash overnight.

• The darker it is outside, the greater the chance of getting into trouble. Why go to the trash bin at night if you can take out the bucket during the day... They can drink in the yard - you will find yourself in an unpleasant situation. In the dark they rob, beat...
• There is no light in the entrance - twist your ankle and fall. Poor lighting in the courtyard of the house - you can accidentally step into the dirt, waste products of dogs and cats. Simple homework will ruin your mood for a long time.
• Packs of stray dogs often gather near garbage cans. After sunset the likelihood of animal attacks is higher. It is better not to entrust children with this work.

There are other reasons why you should not throw out trash in the evening. Comical, but relevant today. You never know...

• They tore me away from the TV, lifted me off the sofa, and forced me to carry the trash. Risk of getting into a fight with a drunk neighbor who decided to talk increases a hundredfold.
• If friends are relaxing in the yard, it’s easy to forget and go on a spree. In the evening I don’t think about work. Especially about the upcoming one.
• Evening coolness provokes a common cold u. Who will dress warmly to take out the trash can?

These are modern explanations for the ban. Let's turn to the signs.

Folk signs

There aren't many of them. Taking out the trash in the evenings means giving rise to gossip about yourself. It’s as if a person is washing dirty linen in public. There is a justification for the sign: the neighbors see you - they consider you a sloppy owner (they didn’t have time to redo everything in a day), and they slander you. After all, grandmothers gather on benches in the evening. Boring. So they talk about everyone they notice.

Why didn't the owner throw out the garbage during the day?.. There is something to hide. Gets rid of bad secrets with unnecessary things. This is how suspicions and conversations arise.

Mystic

Every home has protective spirits. Incorporeal creatures protect the family from evil forces, provide peace and tranquility, and help in everyday affairs. They love order. If they don’t have time to take out the trash during the day, they get offended and don’t come back for a very long time.

Sorcerers and witches use personal belongings of a person in their rituals. Rubbish thrown away after sunset is a godsend for them. If you take any object, you cause damage. Then the attacker throws the item at the doorstep. The owner sees what is his, takes it in his hands - the ritual is completed. Expect troubles, illnesses, quarrels.

According to Feng Shui

You can only throw out trash before sunset. Otherwise, there will be no money, and wealth will leave the house. The energy of the day is yang. And the nights are yin. Yin energy – peace, silence, decline. Yanskaya – movement, production, success. Waste – yang “leftovers”. By taking them out in the evening, we mix the energies. The natural movement of qi is disrupted.

Along with unnecessary things, a person takes out a particle of energy from home and loved ones. She does not have time to recover in a short night. A kind of loss is generated - happiness, wealth, health leave the family. Therefore, in esotericism it is customary to wash out dirty linen in the morning or afternoon. Positive energy will remain.

According to Feng Shui, unnecessary things should not be stored in the house. It is important to get rid of them periodically. But this must be done correctly.

We throw away old things correctly

Advice for “hamsters”: if you are not sure whether these things can be taken out, whether they will still be needed, hide them in a box (bag), seal them with tape and put them in the closet. If you don’t need the hidden item within a year, feel free to throw it in the trash.

More tips:

• Clothes that you would hate to throw in the trash can (you suspect that someone might need them), leave them nearby. But first wash in salt water. The procedure will protect you from outside energetic influence. Tear and cut unnecessary things. And only then throw it away.
• If you want to leave the dishes for those who may still need them, soak them in salt water first. And then take it out. Do not use chipped cups and plates - throw them away without regret. And to protect yourself from negative energy effects, break it.
• Tear documents, checks, receipts containing personal information into small pieces or burn them.
• Old jewelry and accessories must be kept in salt water. Then throw it in the trash can.

Things bear the imprint of human energy. Therefore, you need to carefully remove them from the apartment. It is impossible for evil people to cause harm through clothing, dishes, and accessories.

"Garbage" signs and superstitions

Some signs were invented by our ancestors a long time ago, others appeared relatively recently. Some superstitions can be explained, while others have no basis in reality.

Popular signs about garbage:

Why do you dream of trash:

• Things have started - it's time to sort it out.
• You shouldn’t tell others about yourself - they will use you against you and slander you.
• Garbage pit - to improve material and financial condition.
• To fall into the trash means to receive a promising offer that you will not like at first.
• Seeing garbage in an apartment (house) means family quarrels, troubles, intrigues from the outside, problems with your husband.
• Digging through the trash means you have to protect your reputation.
• Sweeping up litter means a painful breakup or the death of a relative.
• In a dream, taking out the trash means mending old (starting new) relationships, resolving conflicts, settling personal and work problems.
• Digging through the trash can - urgently work on mistakes, analyze behavior, lifestyle.

Ordinary garbage, unnecessary, superfluous things in our lives, and how many prejudices and beliefs... There are many explanations why litter is not taken out after sunset. Whether to believe is a personal matter for everyone. But there are modern, well-founded reasons for the ban. If stray animals, homeless people, and drunks gather near your house, then it is better to take out the trash can in the first half of the day.

Many signs came to us from antiquity and have already partially lost their original meaning. For example, if we interpret the sign about taking out the garbage in the evenings, then the ban on this action in ancient times was associated, first of all, with the safety of a person who decided to leave the house in the dark with a full sack or bag. In those days (two or three centuries ago) there were no lanterns on the streets, nor were there any hand-held lanterns.

But there were street robbers and crooks in abundance. It is no wonder that an unarmed person who went out into a dark alley with something bulky in his hands (no one knew that there was garbage there) risked getting a stone to the head or a knife to the ribs. So it turned out that taking out the trash in the evening was a bad omen.

There are other interpretations, and everyone clearly agrees that it is better not to throw away garbage at night.

Why can't it be taken out in the evening?

• By throwing something out of the house after dark, a person deprives himself of financial well-being. You need to abandon this idea from about 17.00. If the garbage smells bad or the bin is so full that there is no place to put new garbage, take the bag of garbage out into the yard and hang it on the fence (or on the balcony). And you take it to the landfill in the morning.
• In ancient times, it was believed that waste that a person threw away could be useful to a brownie. However, it is worth noting that in those days they threw away leftover yarn and broken things, and not empty tin cans, used diapers and containers for various products. It is unlikely that any of this will seduce modern brownies.
• Under no circumstances should you take out the trash if it contains your nails, hair, teeth (for example, a child’s baby teeth) or personal items (broken comb, holes in clothes and shoes, etc.). All this is an ideal basis for inflicting severe damage. Since dark magicians go out hunting for ingredients for their potions and spells precisely at dark times, all this will fall into their hands. And then trouble cannot be avoided.
• Taking out dirty linen in the evening means gossip. This belief also goes back to more ancient times. It was believed that a good housewife (and owner) gets up early in the morning, almost at dawn, to put the house in order. Therefore, by lunchtime the house is clean, and the woman takes up cooking and other household chores. Accordingly, the garbage will also be ready to be thrown away at lunchtime, when the cleanup is completed. If the owners take the rubbish to the trash bin in the evening, it means they slept and were lazy until lunch. This means that they are careless owners, with all the ensuing consequences.

Be that as it may, these days you shouldn’t go far from home in the dark either. So listen to the sign - throw out the trash in advance, before evening.

Many people know the sign that you should not throw out garbage in the evening. Just in case, most adhere to the dictated rules, especially since it is not at all difficult. It’s better to do it than to expect unnecessary problems. Same with the trash can - no big deal, it will sit until the morning. Although no one can explain exactly what such a terrible thing can happen and whether there is evidence of this.

Where did superstition come from?

Signs like the one about why you shouldn’t throw out trash in the evening are considered omens of unpleasant events. In ancient times people were ignorant and are subject to all sorts of superstitions, otherwise they could not explain why unexpected troubles befell them.

For example, a sign saying that you cannot leave your things on the street at night was given the following explanation: evil spirits will certainly use things and take away their energy, because it is at night that the rampant of the dark elements begins. It's the same with garbage - it's like giving away your things, which will certainly attract evil spirits.

Ancient explanations of signs

There are several versions of why you should not throw out trash in the evening..

Feng Shui sign

Adherents of Feng Shui teachings associate this superstition with losing money. A bucket taken out in the evening will deprive the owners of income, plunge them into financial problems or cause unexpected expenses. Chinese soothsayers explain this by the release of human energy along with things, which is already weakened in the evening.

According to Chinese philosophers, yang is the energy of the day, personifying work, production, movement, and vitality. Yin - the energy of the night, peace, tranquility, loss of vitality. What remains from the day cannot be taken out at night (evening). Otherwise, these two energy flows are mixed and the natural flow of life - qi - is disrupted.

Rational observance of signs

In addition to the housekeeping features adopted from grandmothers, even today you can find explanations why it is better not to take out the garbage at night.

Other subtleties of superstition

Now it’s clear why you can’t take out the trash in the evening. But we are also asked to observe what signs associated with taking things out of the house or throwing out garbage.

Until now, we do not risk cleaning before a long trip, even if it takes place during the day or in the evening. We don’t clean or sweep, seeing off guests on a long journey. Don't wash floors before exams.

How to avoid trouble

To prevent happiness, health, and financial well-being from leaving home, there are some tricks that came to us from our ancestors.

But you need to know that prayer and superstition are incompatible. And if you happen to clean up or throw out trash closer to night, it’s better to leave all doubts about witchcraft spells and witches’ spells . It would be better to go to church, light candles for your family and friends for good health.

The benefits of using energy-saving lamps can hardly be overestimated - they last for years and are relatively inexpensive. However, it must be remembered that it is dangerous to throw away such devices with regular garbage: they contain mercury. Therefore, lamps should be stored only in special containers, from where they are then taken away for disposal according to strictly established rules.

"Time bomb

How can such a danger be avoided?

According to experts, everything is simple: you need to throw away “used” lamps in specialized places and under no circumstances store them at home - in a closet or on a balcony.

In recent years, many Russian cities have begun to install special bins for mercury-containing devices in large shopping centers and specialized stores. Thus, according to officials, dozens of points for collecting old lamps have been organized in Samara and Tolyatti alone. City authorities and management companies are responsible for their installation.

Dangerous "glasses"

Mercury-containing light bulbs are collected from receptacles and transported to recycling sites. There, with the help of chemicals, the toxic substance contained in them is converted into waste of a lower hazard class. As reported by the regional Ministry of Forestry, Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Management, the capacity of specialized enterprises for processing such devices in the Samara region is more than enough. True, only 40% of all waste is recycled.

This is understandable: Samara residents are in no hurry to transport mercury lamps into special containers and throw burnt-out devices into the nearest trash can.

What to do if you suddenly break an energy-saving lamp

“And so mercury contaminates food waste in tanks, which dogs then drag from there, spreading it throughout the city. Homeless people can also pull food from containers that were located next to broken lamps. For them it’s just glass,” says ecologist, chairman of the central council of the Russian Green League Sergei Simak.

By the way, in his opinion, mercury energy-saving lamps are a thing of the past. Today LED lamps are coming to the fore. They have no known drawbacks today, except for one - high price.

“LED lamps save 10 times energy, they are absolutely harmless, there is nothing in them that could cause harmful effects, as in mercury lamps. These lamps are safer than even incandescent lamps containing tungsten, the production of which seriously pollutes the environment,” the ecologist concluded.

Battery, give up

Now the situation has begun to change for the better. Residents of Samara can return used batteries for recycling at points located in IKEA, Sem+ya and Eldorado stores. All collected elements are sent to a specialized enterprise in Chelyabinsk, where they are recycled.

You've probably heard a warning from your friends that you shouldn't throw away used batteries anywhere.

Is this true or is it just a myth among environmentalists? Let's look at two points of view on this problem.

Battery damage

How can an ordinary battery harm humans and the environment, especially if it has already exhausted its lifespan? Why do people sort garbage and what to do with such household waste?

TV remote controls or old electronic alarm clocks contain the well-known finger or little finger batteries. Many of them have the symbol of a crossed out trash container.

It means that you should not throw this battery into a regular trash bin. This is the manufacturer's official warning.

To understand why, you need to understand how these devices work.

How does the battery work?

Each such product has two electrodes:

• cathode

• anode

The electrodes are immersed in an electrically conductive liquid - electrolyte. This electrolyte may be dry, but the essence does not change.

The anode material oxidizes when interacting with the electrolyte. Electrons are released and accumulate at the cathode.

The chemical reaction of oxidation reduction creates a directed flow of electrons from one electrode to another. This is the electric current that is needed to operate the remote control, alarm clock, or even a Tesla car.

Dangerous and toxic substances

At the same time, depending on its type, many elements are hidden under the battery case: lithium, lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel, zinc, manganese.

Lithium, zinc and manganese are relatively safe. As for zinc, its content in small power sources is even greater than in the ore from which it is mined.

But mercury is an extremely dangerous substance that causes poisoning.

Cadmium is a carcinogen that settles in the human kidneys, liver and thyroid gland. It affects the functioning of every organ in the body.

Lead directly affects reproductive health.

True, modern models do not have such a number of toxic components. In phones, smartphones, etc. Nowadays, lithium-ion batteries are mostly used. It is not they that pose the danger, but nickel-cadmium ones.

Where to throw it away

It turns out that each battery contains a little poison. What happens to this poison after the food source ends up in the trash?

There are two ways:

• dump

• incinerator

If a battery is burned, all toxic substances and dioxides will immediately end up in the atmosphere. You need to burn it wisely, at a temperature of 1200 degrees, using special cleaning equipment.

It costs about 800 million euros to build such a plant. Therefore, they are rarely found anywhere.

In a landfill, it takes about 100 years for a battery to completely decompose. In fact, not a single power source produced in the world has been subjected to one hundred percent decomposition. But for the top layer to collapse from corrosion, sometimes it takes only 6-7 weeks.

After which, metals begin to poison the soil, groundwater, and reservoirs that we use for fishing and drinking water supply.

According to environmentalists, one single AA battery can contaminate approximately 20 m2 of soil or 400 liters of drinking water.

And on this soil fruits and vegetables can be grown in the future. Moreover, contact between even a very discharged battery and foil from a chocolate bar can cause heating.

That's why large landfills are burning one after another. It is not necessary to set them on fire on purpose.

Disposal of energy-saving lamps

The same pollution occurs if you throw away a smartphone battery, an energy-saving or fluorescent light bulb.

Of course, such light bulbs save money, but that’s definitely not the environment.

By the way, recycling of mercury-containing lamps is the direct responsibility of management companies and homeowners associations.

Require them to place containers within walking distance of your home.

They must do this by law.

In many European countries the following principle applies: “He who pollutes pays.”

Therefore, recycling and disposing of old batteries is a headache for manufacturers and importers.

They initially include the cost of collection and disposal in the price.

Our legislators also want to come to the same rules of the game in this market in the near future.

Of course, all of the above does not mean that from one AA battery, every living thing within a radius of 20m will immediately die.

But more than 7 billion people live on earth. Most of them use a variety of different power sources every day.

In Moscow alone, several tens of millions of such products end up in landfills every year. Toxins from them will accumulate in living organisms, increasing the risk of developing cancer and other serious diseases, not only in us, but also in our descendants.

Where can I throw it away?

What then should be done with batteries and other hazardous waste? Recycle!

Why produce something anew if you can use old things and save raw materials. This is quite reasonable.

Of course, you can’t actually create new batteries from old ones in a factory.

But at the end you can get ingots of zinc, lead, cadmium, copper, and iron. And only then these materials will be used for new production.

In Russia there is currently one widely known similar plant in Chelyabinsk.

But it can't handle measly hundreds or even thousands of batteries. He needs tons, tens, hundreds of tons. But they are not there.

Therefore, the plant is still on the verge of breaking even. Recycling technology is very expensive.

Battery cells are sorted and sent to a crusher.

Almost immediately, the first important element - iron - is extracted from them.

It is deposited on magnetic tape, after which it is collected and sold to iron and steel enterprises.

It is impossible to isolate the remaining parts mechanically. Chemistry comes to the rescue. The acid dissolves the mixture, and in the crystallizer the graphite, manganese and zinc are separated from each other.

They are packaged and sent to production.

Recycling 1 kg of batteries costs more than 100 rubles. At the same time, it is difficult to sell recyclable materials.

For example, recycled zinc costs 1.5 times more than virgin zinc. Which is why it is not in demand.

You can find out where the best place to return used batteries is on the website RecycleMap.ru. IKEA stores also accept old batteries.

By handing over batteries to collection points, many are confident that in this way they are personally saving air, soil and water, not only for themselves, but also for future generations.

Why you can throw batteries in the trash

Well, now, a few words about the opponents of such categorical measures regarding batteries outlined above.

Many are inclined to consider them mostly myths and misconceptions exaggerated by environmentalists, in order to obtain additional information. financing for their projects and production related to them.

Firstly, you need to clearly understand that current sources are:

The primary ones include saline and alkaline. Their charge is enough for one time, after which they are mercilessly thrown away.

Secondaries can be recharged hundreds of times. These are nickel-cadmium, lithium-ion, nickel-manganese batteries.

They are thrown away after a long period of use. The icon of a crossed out trash can is almost always printed on batteries.

But on simple batteries, you can often not find it. It is battery models that are rich in heavy metals that environmentalists scare us with - lead and cadmium.

By and large, disposable batteries do not use hazardous metals. All environmentalists scare us with the terrible cadmium and its consequences, but there is no cadmium there!

Moreover, a significant part of its compounds are almost insoluble, which means they will slowly turn into sedimentary rocks.

Since the 60s of the last century, mercury has generally stopped being placed inside these products. But the horror stories remain.

What is there? Coal, a little zinc, saline solution, alkali.

Although alkalis are harmful to our mucous membranes, they do not have any particular impact on the environment. Moreover, in the acidic environment of general waste.

By the way, alkaline batteries are the same as alkaline ones, do not be confused.

That’s why people massively throw these AA, AAA and similar finger and little finger batteries into the trash. Without worrying at all about killing innocent hedgehogs and trees in the forest as a result of his actions.

Read on Ru.Wikihow.com which batteries can be thrown away and which ones cannot.

And the pollution figure of 20 m2 from one battery is not entirely clear. It is reprinted from article to article, but where did it come from? "British scientists" calculated it?

Why not 15m2 or 25m2? How does soil composition and soil type affect this area? Just questions, but even environmentalists don’t have concrete answers to them, just propaganda.