Vermont battery recycling program launches

Submitted

Vermonters are now able to recycle household batteries by bringing them to over 100 drop-off sites statewide.

National Battery Day celebrated, Feb. 18

Call2Recycle, Inc., North America’s largest consumer battery stewardship organization, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources announced the official launch of the statewide program for the responsible recycling of single-use (primary) batteries. The announcement was made Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Vermont State House.

Effective January 1, 2016, Vermont’s first-in-the-nation legislation (Act 139) requires single-use battery manufacturers to participate in a program that manages the responsible disposal of batteries sold in the state. Vermont residents are now able to recycle all their household batteries, including AA, AAA, C, and D, among other battery types, by bringing them to over 100 convenient drop-off sites throughout the state, including retailers, municipalities, libraries, and other frequently visited locations. In addition, Vermont residents will no longer need to separate single-use batteries from rechargeable batteries.

The program comes at no cost to the state or to Vermont residents. In 2015, over 650,000 pounds of batteries were sold in Vermont, but only 36,000 pounds were collected for recycling.

The event also signaled the launch of Call2Recycle’s statewide school battery recycling challenge, a contest that seeks to increase awareness of battery recycling among students in Vermont. Andrew Sirjord, chairman of Call2Recycle, Inc., said: “As the stewardship program approved by Vermont we are excited to continue our important work in Vermont through an expanded program. We can all contribute and help give a new life to batteries.” And he continued: “The behavior that motivates battery recycling starts at home and our youth can play a key role in this effort, which is why we are promoting initiatives such as the Vermont School Battery Recycling Challenge.”

Vermont schools, grades 5 and 6, can go to www.call2recycle.org/vermont and sign-up before National Battery Day, February 18. All participant schools will enter to collect the most batteries and the school that can collect the most batteries (in pounds) per student will be rewarded with a special celebration.

A group of students from the Montpelier Main Street Middle School Green Team joined the event to present their battery recycling experience and participate as junior environmental reporters.

“It’s not that often that I am presented with the opportunity to introduce a bill that is so clearly a win-win-win—a win for the environment, for the people of Vermont, and for the manufacturers of what has become an essential product in our daily lives, to demonstrate good product stewardship in action,” said Rep. Tony Klein, chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy committee. “With the help of students like those here today, we can make a real difference in protecting Vermont’s environment.”

For more information on the school challenge, drop-off locations and battery recycling in Vermont, please visit www.call2recycle.org/vermont

Call2Recycle, Inc., is North America’s premier product stewardship organization dedicated to minimizing the environmental impacts of products in the marketplace. Learn more at call2recycle.org.