More correspondence from Bill

B: Hi yet again - something else we do:- as a cochlear implant user (very successfully) I and other hearing aid users go through quite a lot of batteries; I think it is a good rule to take them to your local recycling centre to be disposed of properly - and more importantly that the same should be done with fluorencent strips & low energy bulbs because BOTH contain mercury and therefore do not belong in landfill on which houses could be built into the future.

J: I will start a recycling thread for this one. My old batteries are in a plastic bag under the kitchen sink until I can find a way to get rid of them. I am more concerned about old TV's, computers, and mobile phones at my place.

B: For a while now I have toyed with the desirability of nuclear power because of its lack of carbon & other nasties, but of course the deep burial of waste is not ideal either! So I considered - why not load the stuff onto a rocket and fire it into the gravitational pull of the sun? The answers I have got back seem to suggest that we could get it back on the Sun's Solar winds - but an interesting thought - yes?

J: Great for people who want to play with fire. What if the launch rocket falls back to earth?
In principle it has something going for it, but why leave it in orbit around the sun, where it could blow back on the Solar Wind? Better to let it fall into the sun and be consumed.
I think we can bury nuclear waste in a 'subduction zone' where it gets pulled under a tectonic plate. That's long-term storage!