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Stuff Happens--Where Batteries Go When They DieJuly 28, 2010Stuff happens. A couple weeks ago, our state Department of General Services informed the building managers in all the state-owned buildings that the battery recycling services contract was terminated, effective now. Most of our employees work in a state building, and they regularly fill the designated kiosks with office batteries and batteries from home. Groan. Now we have to figure out if we can set up a volunteer effort or if we can amend an existing arrangement in our leased buildings to include the other buildings. We will work through this, but it would have been really nice if this had not happened. We’ve shifted to rechargeable batteries for some of our needs, and I've discovered that we have some work to do to shift the balance to predominantly rechargeable batteries. And there are instances when the single-use batteries work best, such as a wall clock. So we still go through a lot of batteries. Also, we like being able to offer employees with an outlet for them to drop off dead batteries they bring from home. Consumers use an average of six wireless products in their day-to-day lives, and the average cell phone is replaced (or upgraded) every 18 to 24 months. In searching out possible solutions, there’s a nifty website that works for anywhere in the US, Ontario and British Columbia provinces. Call2Recycle reaches out to businesses and sets up free in-store recycling centers.
This site provides an extensive listing of stores that accept batteries for recycling. The site states that locations in the US will only accept rechargeable batteries. When I called several stores, all but one said that they would accept single-use, too. We advise employees to call first to check. Without question, participating stores accept these rechargeable batteries: Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Nickel Zinc, Lithium Ion and Small Sealed Lead weighing less than 11 lbs/ 5 kg each. These types of batteries can be found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, digital cameras, two-way radios, camcorders, and remote control toys.
Old cell phones can be dropped off, too. We like using Verizon’s HopeLine program, which I’ve written about in an earlier blog, but this is another option.
Check out the Games and Resources tab on the Call2Recycle tab. It has a Green IQ quiz and a couple games everyone in the family can do.
Meanwhile, we're taking another look at rechargeable batteries so we can increase their use in our offices. Click here to get some good info and an easy "how to" from our CalRecycle Department.
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