“Mind is the battery cell,
Intelligence is the switch.”
~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba
No, National Battery Day is not meant to give you permission to assault people—thankfully, there is no holiday or any day when that is acceptable. This National Battery Day is brought to you by the companies that produce those things that are “not included” whenever you buy your kid a toy that needs a power source.
Yearly, Americans buy approximately three billion batteries to juice-up their cell phones, computers, radios, toys, watches, hearing aids…you name it. At an average length of two inches, strung end to end, those “disposable” energy sources would be 94,700 miles long – enough to circle the equator almost four times!
And although mercury was banned in the manufacture of alkaline batteries many years ago, many still contain small amounts of this troublesome material and – for some stupid reason – this is an unavoidable part of the mining and manufacturing processes. Ya’ see, when the other metals in alkaline batteries, like zinc and manganese, are mined, small amounts of mercury end up in the raw ore and aren’t removed.
While some establishments accept rechargeable batteries for recycling, most refuse to take the alkaline variety wrongly assuming that because they “supposedly” don’t contain any toxic metals, they can just be put into the trash with all of our other garbage.
But when tossed out with the trash, those batteries eventually pollute lakes and streams – they can leach from landfills and therefore expose the environment and ground water to lead and acid and mercury. But between you and me – I think that we can and should recycle all those AAA, AA, C and D alkaline batteries.
And I’m apparently not alone in my thinking. Programs like the Big Green Box program are doing what they can to keep alkaline batteries out of landfills by recycling and recovering the metals in every type of battery. From their U.S. collection locations alkaline batteries are sorted and shipped to a Canadian facility that crushes them to recover the zinc, manganese, mercury and steel.
Walgreen’s, IKEA and Whole Foods, among other businesses, also offer collection sites for your used alkaline batteries. But in the states that “require” consumers to recycle their alkaline batteries, there are many more businesses that participate.
The need for batteries to run our 21st Century lifestyle is only going to grow, so instead of continuing to purchase something that’s bound to stop working, may I suggest that you consider using the newfangled rechargeable batteries instead? Unlike the rechargables from years back, the newest varieties can be recharged easily at home or in your place of business at any available electrical wall outlet, and they actually hold their charge.
And my new, most favorite kind of rechargables are the ones that can actually be charged via a USB port on your computer. They’re ingenious! However, I’ve only found these USB-type rechargables online.
Many of the newest types of rechargeable batteries can be re-used up to 1,000 times, which, if you add it up, is a tremendous savings over their life span even though up-front they cost more to buy than the “disposable” varieties.
So – next time you’re out shopping for batteries, forget the ones that will die on you in a week, and instead, pick up lithium-ion or NiMH types – simply because they contain fewer toxic metals, hold a charge, and won’t pollute the planet. And just think – while you’re saving precious cash and valuable resources, and safely using your new rechargeable batteries over and over and over again, that poor little Energizer Bunny will have keeled over and died a long time ago!
About michael.dejong
Environmentalist, artist and author, Michael DeJong, was born in Chicago Heights, IL, in 1962, earning his MFA from the University of Illinois in 1987 before moving to NYC. Once settled, to support himself as a working artist, DeJong ran a housekeeping business for 7 years. In response to his own health challenges caused by multiple daily exposures to toxic commercial household cleaners, he began researching healthier, natural alternatives, using his clients’ homes as his “laboratory,” formulating and testing his eco-friendly, human-friendly and pet-friendly cleaning recipes. He currently lives in Jersey City with his partner of 18 years (Richard,) dog of 10 years (Jack,) and 3 goldfish of 2 years (Phil, Jill and Gill) who all benefit from his natural cleaning techniques. After launching a successful career as a commercial photo-stylist, he put aside his hundreds of cleaning recipes and notes, only to return to them in 2005, after a chance meeting with publishing legend, Joost Elffers, for whom he wrote the popular environmental cleaning book, “Clean: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing” (Sterling Publishing/Joost Elffers Books, 2007). http://www.zencleansing.com/ Upon its release, “Clean” quickly found a large following and was Sterling’s best seller for 2007. DeJong and Elffers donated 2,500 books to Al Gore that were included in the “Trainee Tool Kit” for the international attendees of his “Climate Project” trainings. The book was also touted by Teresa Heinz Kerry in her lecture series, “Women, Health & the Environment,” and was auctioned by Bette Midler to raise funds for her “Restoration Project” in NYC. “Clean” has been quoted, reviewed and/or recommended by the Sierra Club, Women’s Voices for the Earth, Town & Country Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart’s Blueprint Magazine, This Old House Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, The Seattle Times, USA Weekend Magazine, Lifetime Television and several other media outlets. DeJong is currently working on the next 2 volumes for his My Kind of Clean series of “green” cleaning, beauty, and lifestyle books. “Clean Body” and “Clean Cures” will be released by Sterling Publishing/Joost Elffers Books in spring and fall of 2009 respectively. Michael is currently the eco-cleaning advisor and weekly contributor to Hearst Publishing’s first online magazine, “The Daily Green," http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/blogs/nontoxic/ and was the eco-expert “Mr. Green” for the “Ask Mr. Green” column on NBC-Universal-Bravo’s new environmental website http://www.greenisuniversal.com/ask_mr_green.php . He is currently blogging for The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-dejong/ With Dutch and American partners, he is currently heading up an exciting, sustainable, social-entrepreneurial, “for-benefit” company in The Netherlands, OneCleanWorld Group, and beginning the OneCleanWorld Foundation in the US. OneCleanWorld’s first subsidiary, CleanHome&Body International will produce families of safe and eco-effective products based on the time-tested recipes in his My Kind of Clean book series. The first line of 15 eco-friendly household cleaners will be launched in late spring 2009 under the brand “CleanHome,” and as each new book in the series is released, a new line of related products will be developed and launched. The company is also developing an open-source, interactive, social-networking, “We-Think” style, web portal for environmentalists, activists, entrepreneurs and bloggers interested in improving the planet one-household-at-a-time. OneCleanWorld, it's subsidiaries and the OCW Foundation have a commitment to profits with principles, and royalties from all of the books and a percentage of profits from the commercial ventures will all go towards endowing and underwriting the foundation, which will focus on providing monetary grants, technical assistance and/or micro-financing for eco-projects worldwide.
Thank you for the information! Now, I'll look for a recycling location… Not enough attention has been paid to this topic, so many people want to recycle, reuse but don't have the know-how to do it.
There are thousands of convenient and FREE drop-off locations for recycling rechargeable batteries (through retail stores where one would buy new batteries). The program is funded by the the rechargeable battery industry. Locations can be found by zip code (US) or postal code (Canada) at http://www.call2recycle.org. Meanwhile, there isn't a similar program yet for alkaline batteries. Those programs like Big Green Box and Battery Solution charge consumers about $30 for a box to ship batteries for recycling. Even the stores like Whole Foods and IKEA and some community recycling centers have to pay someone to take the alkaline batteries off their hands. With the way the economy is going, some places may need to find ways of trimming budget and recycling that they pay out of their own pockets but doesn't give them a return may be one of the casualties.
While I agree that there should be a recycling program for alkaline batteries too, there isn't one currently because there isn't much reusable byproducts that can be extracted from alkaline recycling. It's just not cost effective. Until a recycling program for alkalines is funded by the industry (product stewardship), free nationwide programs won't be available.
While I'd love to visit IKEA and Whole Foods, they aren't as close and convenient as other stores that currently participant in the rechargeable battery recycling program: RadioShack, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's. If the point of recycling is to be green and environmentally conscious, I will most likely take the shortest route to recycle rather than drive many miles to the nearest IKEA or Whole Foods to drop off alkalines.
Let's hope alkaline battery recycling finds industry funding soon so the consumer doesn't have to pay a waste hauler or drive several miles to a few select stores to recycle them. And most importantly, so that all batteries (and other e-waste) can stay out of the landfills and incinerators and find reusable byproducts (rather than rely on natural resources).
Do we actually have a national battery day? That's something I never heard before. I realize batteries have an important impact for the comfort of our lives but they also have an impact on the environment if they are not recycled so I think this national day is more like an awareness day.