Why shouldn't we throw away batteries?

Each battery (whether finger or nano) contaminates about 20 square meters of land or 400 liters of water with heavy metals. That's more than the average swimming pool is 25 meters long.
As it turns out, this is because batteries contain various heavy metals which, even in small quantities, can be harmful to human health.
These include zinc, manganese, cadmium, nickel, mercury, etc. After throwing away batteries corrode (their metal coating is destroyed) and the heavy metals get into the soil and groundwater. From groundwater, these metals can get into rivers and lakes or into artesian water used for drinking water.

#bigthink