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TO BUSINESS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY EDITORS: |
Exide Technologies, World's Biggest Battery Company, Is Also Global Recycling Leader |
'Every Day is Earth Day at Exide Technologies' |
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, Apr. 20 -/E-Wire/--
This Earth Day, and every day, Exide Technologies (NYSE: EX), the global leader in stored electrical energy solutions, plays a significant role protecting the environment, keeping the cost of new lead-acid batteries in line and keeping recyclable materials in the manufacturing stream and out of the waste stream.
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As the world's leading manufacturer and recycler of lead-acid batteries, Exide Technologies recycles approximately 50 million spent lead-acid batteries per year in its 11 battery recycling facilities. Exide, which calls its recycling effort Total Battery Management(TM), has been recycling spent batteries and producing new batteries with recycled components for more than half a century.
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The lead-acid battery is one of the most significant and enduring recycling success stories. In the U.S. alone, battery lead has a recycling rate of nearly 95 percent, according to the most recent industry statistics.
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When Exide recycles spent batteries, it reclaims the lead, the polypropylene from the battery cases and even the battery acid. The lead is melted, poured into ingots and used to produce new batteries. The polypropylene cases are broken apart, washed, melted, and extruded into pellets, which are used to make new battery cases. The spent battery acid is processed to extract components that are converted to sodium sulfate, a product used in textiles, detergents and other products. A new Exide battery contains nearly 100 percent recycled lead and plastic, and the materials can be recycled indefinitely.
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"Every day is Earth Day at Exide Technologies. We were recycling our products many years before other industries recognized the benefits of recycling," said Robert A. Lutz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Exide Technologies. "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the lead from a battery we built in 1950 might still be used in a new Exide battery produced today. We recycle because it makes economic sense, and environmental sense."
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For automotive, marine and specialty batteries, Exide has a sophisticated recycling infrastructure in place that involves a partnership with its aftermarket customers and their customers -- the consumers who buy new batteries. The trucks that deliver new Exide products to retail customers such as Kmart and Wal-Mart also pick up spent batteries turned in by consumers who buy new batteries. Most retailers who sell new batteries will accept spent batteries for recycling. Today, 37 states have recycling laws that require consumers to pay a deposit if they don't turn in a spent battery when they buy a new one.
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Exide's industrial-battery customers participate in a different, but equally successful collection model. Industrial batteries back up critical applications such as telecommunications systems, computer data centers, and emergency systems; and power vehicles such as fork lifts and mining vehicles. These batteries have a life span in the range of three to 30 years, and are not sold through retail outlets. The companies that install new industrial- battery systems collect spent batteries and return them to Exide for recycling.
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More information on the Exide Technologies battery recycling effort is available at www.exide.com .
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Note:
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Exide Technologies is the global leader in providing electrical energy storage solutions. The company has annualized revenues of approximately $3 billion and has operations in 89 countries, serving the industrial and transportation markets.
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Industrial applications include network-power batteries for telecommunications systems, fuel cell loading leveling, electric utilities, railroads, photovoltaic (solar-power storage) and other uninterruptible power supply (UPS) markets; and motive-power batteries for a broad range of equipment uses, including lift trucks, mining and commercial vehicles.
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Transportation uses include automotive, heavy-duty truck, agricultural, marine and other batteries, as well as new technologies being developed for hybrid vehicles and new 42-volt automotive applications. The company supplies both the aftermarket and original equipment transportation customers.
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Further information about Exide Technologies, its financial results and other information, can be found at www.exide.com .
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Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As such, they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the company to be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These are enumerated in further detail in the company's Form 10-K.
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-0- 04/20/2001
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