When you live off-grid, battery-powered electronic tools and technologies can make home life a little bit easier.
Battery-powered lights, for example, are extremely handy for illumination when the sun goes down. One Redditor who knows this all too well took to the platform to advise fellow off-gridders about a valuable hack to clean up corroded electronics.
"I used white vinegar and kept putting it on till it didn't look crusty or fizz any more," they said on the r/OffGrid subreddit. "Then I cleaned with alcohol. After that I dried with paper towel and blow dried with battery powered leaf blower. I saved a medium-quality flashlight and a nice LED lantern."
For those living in particularly humid areas, this trick is a great way to prolong the life of battery-powered items — especially those that are used mostly outdoors.
But it also helps to keep these products from going to landfills. Corroded electronics might soon stop working, and the temptation might be to throw them out in favor of buying new ones, which can be expensive. This is also extremely wasteful, contributing to already overfull landfill sites that produce methane — a gas that is much more potent in terms of planet-warming potential than carbon dioxide.
E-waste is an increasing problem. According to the World Health Organization, it is the fastest-growing waste stream on the planet, with 62 million tons of it produced in 2022. If electronics are not disposed of properly, the batteries in these products could leach harmful chemicals into soil and water sources — and can lead to health issues for anyone exposed to these toxins — and they can also present a fire hazard.
It's a waste of materials, too. A number of battery-powered products, like torches, are housed in a plastic casing. Plastic is damaging to the planet throughout its lifecycle, from the petrochemicals needed to be extracted to create it, the toxic fumes produced in the manufacturing process, and the fact that they don't degrade naturally. If they are discarded, they will take up space in landfills for years, all the while shedding micro- and nanoplastics that can proliferate in the environment.
These problematic particles are being found everywhere, from oceans to remote ecosystems, and while their full impact on the health of humans and animals is still being investigated, early evidence proves that they do far more harm than good.
Redditors were grateful for the advice and offered some tips of their own.
🗣️ How do you usually dispose of your old electronics?
🔘 Throw them away 🗑️
🔘 Donate them 📱
🔘 Sell them for cash 💵
🔘 Store them at home 🏠
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"Finally cover with a dielectric grease to prevent it from occurring again," one user said.
"Perfect timing," another added. "I just came across one with corroded batteries/contacts today and threw it out initially, then pulled it back out of the garbage bag on the off chance that it could be saved somehow. I will give it a try when I have a chance."
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