New Laws For Rechargeable Battery Disposal

According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, this includes the disposal of nickel-cadmium batteries, dry cells and the popular lithium ion batteries.

Others, including common alkaline batteries and batteries that power golf carts or power wheelchairs are not covered under the new law.

Dave Lupinski, of the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority, said the new law holds manufacturers to task.

“It helps properly dispose of material and the manufacturer can no longer just sell something and forget about it,Alkaline battery” Lupinski said. “They have to think about the material from cradle to grave. Once a battery reaches the end of life, how they’re going to be handling it and how it has to be recycled.”

Lupinski also said that by proper disposal of the batteries is safer for those getting rid of them.

“Lithium batteries have actually been known to catch on fire,” Lupinski said. “So, the lithium batteries, you know, they do carry such a high charge,Water pump that if they’re disposed improperly, can cause fires when they’re mixed in the garbage. So, by taking them out, it helps us with the concern of improperly disposing the batteries.”

Anyone with rechargeable batteries may drop them off at the Solid Waste Authority’s facility on Leland Avenue, in Utica, or drop them off in recycling boxes at major retailers,Button cell including Wal-Mart and Lowe’s.

Rich getting richer faster as wealth gap widens

Rich getting richer faster as wealth gap widens
THE gap between rich and the poor in China is widening despite a substantial growth in incomes since 1978, according to the latest research.
The average income of the richest 10 percent of the urban population was 8.9 times that of the poorest 10 percent in 2009 compared with 2.9 times in 1985, while urban residents earned 3.3 times more than their rural counterparts in 2009, according to a Chinese consumer research report published by Science Press.
Earnings have increased markedly since China opened its door to the world in 1979, but along with that has come a yawning divide betweenwholesale fashion jewellery rich and poor and the urban and rural population, according to the report.
From 1978 to 2010, the urban per capita disposable income soared 55 times. Rural residents, however, wholesale jewelrysaw a 43-fold increase in their income.
The earnings gap between the city and the countryside narrowed to 1.8 to 2.3 times during the 1980s from 2.5 to 2.6 times in the late 1970s, but wholesale jewelry from chinawidened to 3.3 times in 2009. Experts, taking into account housing subsidies, health care, education and other social welfare benefits that urban citizens are entitled to, said the actual income disparity may reach six times.
The biggest problem in bridging the gap is that the rich are getting richer more quickly. The richest 10 percent of the urban population enjoyed a 37-fold increase in their income from 1985 to 2009 while the middle 20 percent saw a 21-fold increase. But the poorest 10 percent saw their incomes rise just 12-fold.
The Gini coefficient, a key gauge of income inequality, shows that the yawning gap between China's rich and poor is already pushing the boundaries of social stability.
Ranging from zero, representing identical incomes among the entire population, to one, which means all income goes to one person, the gauge points to 0.4jewelry wholesaler as an warning sign of inequality. China's figure, which had passed the 0.4 mark 10 years ago, climbed up to 0.48 in 2010.
"The disparity between the rich and the poor has gone way beyond the reasonable extent," said Chang Xiuze, professor at Macro Economic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.