In power-starved Gaza’s scrapyards, batteries keep piling up

GAZA, Oct 24 (Reuters) – In a scrapyard near Gaza’s fence with Israel, thousands of old batteries are piling up – one of several such sites in the enclave set up to mitigate the environmental repercussions of the blackouts that are a feature of daily life.The batteries – stacked outside and slowly degrading – are from defunct solar power and UPS emergency backup power systems, relics of the costly workarounds that Gazans use whenever the power cuts kick in.To minimize the impact of the thousands of tonnes of old batteries that have built up after 15 years of blockade, environment officials have set up five storage sites away from heavily populated areas.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterBut some pollutant leakage is inevitable, adding to mouting problems in the strip, where some 2.3 million people live in a narrow coastal area isolated by border controls…

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