Exide Technologies has updated its range of after market lead-acid batteries with a focus on using recycled plastic for its boxes and lids to reduce their environmental impact.
The France headquartered firm’s design uses recycled plastic instead of virgin polipropylene (PP) for its a spill and spark-proof security lid.
The new design will be introduced to all of Exide Technologies’ top-of-the-line conventional batteries, with its Exide Premium also using its proprietary Carbon Boost 2.0 technology that uses carbon additives on the negative plates.
The new batteries can be manufactured on existing production lines, with the new design of boxes and lids not requiring any special upgrades of the production lines besides ordinary adjustments.
In its purchasing contract, Exide specifies the boxes and lids bought from outside suppliers are made of recycled plastic instead of virgin PP.
Guido Scanagatta, senior product manager EMEA at Exide Technologies, told BEST: “We have a material and manufacturing process validation system that is specific to RPP (Reprocessed Polipropylene), which covers several checks on material (dimensions and performance) and adjustment of some parameters in the assembly line (lid to box and secondary lid to main lid thermo welding process mostly).
“Generally, the boxes and the lids are made with injection molding process using either molten virgin or reprocessed PP. The same mold can normally use both materials.”
Exide says the change will lead to savings each manufacturing year of: 2,700 tons of CO2, 8 million litres of water and 1.2 million litres of crude oil.
