 Industry-wide, this “closed loop” process for recycling lead batteries keeps more than 1.7 million tons of lead batteries out of U.S. landfills annually.Exide Technologies is a contributing member of the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) and Lead Battery Research Working Group, formed by the North American lead battery industry with goals to advance technology, "undertake pre-competitive research to improve performance and longevity of lead batteries," and develop understanding of the crystal precipitation/dissolution process.Exide is also a member of EUROBAT, an Association of European Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers whose purpose is "to study all matters of interest to storage battery manufacturers and their sub-contractors in Europe, Middle East and Africa."