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Rechargeable Battery Project - Vanuatu

Rechargeable batteries are restoring coral reefs in the tropical island of Vanuatu

The tiny Pacific island of Vanuatu is run on batteries. It has no mains electricity supply and the 200,000 inhabitants must rely on batteries for all their electrical energy needs Batteries are expensive and account for a large proportion of most families’ monthly incomes. They are also difficult to dispose of as they release acids and other toxic chemicals as they decompose. In Vanuatu, most householders were in the habit of solving this problem by dumping their used batteries into the sea. A 2002 survey revealed that 76 per cent of all the island’s batteries were disposed of in this way. This was severely damaging the island’s finest asset: its spectacular coral reefs. Chemicals seeping from the sunken batteries were poisoning fish and killing the corals themselves. Vanuatu’s Marine Protected Area Group decided to tackle the problem at source by encouraging villagers to use rechargeable batteries. The Nguna-Pele Rechargeable Battery Project began by purchasing a powerful 60W solar panel, a battery charger, and 900 rechargeable batteries. In the powerful tropical sunshine, this array is capable of recharging around 60 batteries per day. Charged batteries are rented to the population at a fraction of the cost of new ones. The benefits to the reef are already being seen – dead batteries are no longer found within the Marine Protected Area and battery-blighted fish populations appear to be returning.