-- Battery Recycling --
Sadly only 28% of Canadians are recycling less than 20% of
the batteries consumed in the country – despite education campaigns and ample
collection sites. According to an
article I read recently from the Recycling Product Newsletter: “One mg of
mercury is enough to make all the fish in a 20 acre lake inedible for a full
year. With almost 11 mg of mercury in the average button cell, alkaline
battery, RMC says Canadians' awareness of the implications of improper disposal
is in stark contrast to the realities of the situation”.
RawMaterials.com offers battery recycling
collection boxes, prepaid shipping, for businesses to collect in-house
batteries – and also their customers/clients.
They also offer similar collection systems for fluorescent and CFL bulbs
and thermometers. According to their site the average home consumes 1.2 pounds
of cell batteries per year, and while only 1% of landfill waste is batteries –
they are responsible for 50-70% of the heavy metals found in these sites.
Call2Recycle.ca is another great resource to check out… click on their “find a
depot” link and enter in the city/province to find drop off sites.
Here in
Creston we can take in batteries and cell phones via: The Source, Lectron
Enterprise, Town of Creston City Hall, and Home Hardware Building Center.
Of course
we can decrease battery consumption by using rechargeable batteries… I tend to keep a zip-lock type baggie near
the recycling area in the carport where I can contribute smaller household
batteries as they burn out. While we do have all the AAA and AA batteries in
rechargeable varieties, they will eventually wear out and will have to be
replaced once they don’t hold their charge anymore. There are other batteries
too such as a few D’s and those square ones that go in fire alarms… So far we
don’t have these in rechargeable form. So any and all batteries go in that bag
and when it is full enough – or whenever we are heading in the direction of the
closest collection site, we take it in.
Find Dave and Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio program, newsletter, blog, and more at: www.brummet.ca
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People need to be more responsible towards environment & participate in recycling.
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