Ignores environmental pollution
Expired batteries are a source of livelihood in the Gaza Strip
A Palestinian worker carries a battery to be resold for recycling.
AFP
A vendor collects used batteries from neighborhoods and streets.
AFP
A Palestinian girl walks past a pile of used batteries that need to be disposed of.
AFP
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Zakaria Abu Sultan drives a horse-drawn cart. He calls out through a loudspeaker, “Who has damaged batteries for sale.” To support his poor family, he worked as a collector of damaged batteries, which are now piling up in tons in an open landfill in the Gaza Strip, causing major environmental pollution risks.
The 27-year-old toured the neighborhoods and alleys of the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, to buy expired batteries.
Families in the Gaza Strip have equipped themselves with batteries to use to cover hours of power cuts, after Israel destroyed Gaza's only power plant in 2006, and Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Strip since 2007.
In a loud voice, Abu Sultan, who supports 12 people, calls out, "A broken 16-amp battery costs five shekels ($1.5), 200 amps costs 50 shekels (about $15)."
"I've been wandering since dawn to buy the damaged batteries, I buy them at best for 50 shekels, and sell them to the scrap dealer for 70 shekels (about 21 dollars)," he says, while pulling on the saddle of his horse to avoid hitting a car in front of him.
The day ended, and Abu Sultan succeeded only in buying three old batteries, before he went to sell them to a scrap dealer in Beit Lahiya.
At the merchant, piles of hundreds of batteries, electrical appliances and iron pile up in the open ground, at the entrance of which stand donkey carts.
15 years.. 25 thousand tons
In the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, thousands of worn out batteries are piled up in a land surrounded by residential apartments with an area of two acres (2000 square meters). The piles are several meters above the ground.
Toxic liquids can be seen seeping from the batteries on the ground.
"The accumulation and accumulation of quantities of these batteries harm the health of the owners of this profession first," said Ibrahim Baraka, 28, the son of the owner of the land.
He continues, "Battery collection has been going on for nearly 15 years, due to the closure of the crossing and the failure of the Israeli side to export batteries for recycling."
Although Baraka is aware of the danger of these batteries, he does not adopt measures to prevent them, and neither do any of the workers or street vendors who transport the batteries with their own hands.
"The Gaza Strip contains more than 25,000 tons of batteries that need to be recycled," said Engineer Muhammad Musleh, director of the Environmental Resources Department in the Hamas-affiliated Gaza government.
These quantities are found in “several places in open areas and in conditions that are not suitable for their storage.”
"The battery consists of heavy metals and toxic materials such as lead, which makes up about 60% of the battery's body, in addition to mercury," he added.
The Director of the National Institute for Environment and Development, Ahmed Helles, explains how the process of recycling these batteries can constitute a wealth that provides an economic return and preserves the environment.
But the reality is that “tons of batteries are accumulating in dumps, some reaching a height of more than 40 meters.”
According to Helles, "Some scavengers resorted to collecting batteries randomly, without having experience in dealing with toxic materials and without complying with the laws" related to this aspect.
And he warns that these batteries are "surrounded by strong plastic that they are working to dismantle in their homes and among their children."
He points out that “the batteries are found among people and on animal carts, and children carry them and we find the father or son trying to open them with a screwdriver, and this in itself is a farce and chaos,” adding that this could explain some cases of cancer.
Hills calls on the municipalities of the Gaza Strip to "establish a system for the management of all hazardous waste, including batteries, enact laws and legislation and follow up on them on the ground."
The residents of the Gaza Strip cannot dispense with the use of batteries, due to the lack of electricity, noting that there is one station that currently provides electricity to the Strip, but the current is irregular, and is largely related to securing the quantities of “fuel” necessary to operate the station.
Today, most batteries are connected to solar panels on rooftops.
The director of the National Institute for Environment and Development explains how Israel used to allow solid waste to be transported for recycling in its lands, but stopped doing so with the Hamas movement taking over power in 2007.
In light of the continuous demands from merchants in the Strip, the Hebrew state finally allowed the transfer of tons of used iron for recycling.
Helles says that this step gave hope to the merchants, to return the movement of transporting these wastes and recycling them outside the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is a narrow coastal strip crowded with a population of 2.3 million, more than 50% of whom suffer from unemployment, especially among the youth.
The Israeli authorities did not respond to AFP's inquiries on the matter.
However, the Coordination of Israeli Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT) said in a statement, about a week ago, that it had installed a machine for grinding scrap iron at the Kerem Shalom crossing (Erez).
The statement added that the new machine "will join ... another machine that is already working at the crossing."
The collection of batteries has been going on for nearly 15 years, due to the closure of the crossing and the failure of the Israeli side to export the batteries for recycling.
• Families in the Gaza Strip supplied themselves with batteries to use to cover hours of power cuts, after Israel destroyed Gaza's only power plant in 2006.
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