About BatteryCycle
Over 9,000 Grade 4-8 students in 51 Ottawa-area schools are collecting batteries in “battery buckets” over the month of May. The buckets will be weighed during Environment Week and then shipped to a recycling facility in Ontario where 100% of the materials will be recycled for use in new products.
Environment Canada estimates that only 2% of household batteries are currently being recycled in Canada. In Ottawa, we discard over 6.5 million batteries (weighing over 200 metric tonnes) every year. When batteries aren’t properly recycled they end up in landfills where they can create environmental problems. Recycling batteries recovers valuable resources that will be used in place of new materials.
This is an opportunity for schools to become environmental leaders and educate students and families about the importance of battery recycling. Through BATTERYCYCLE, schools can energize young Ontarians to form positive and lifelong environmental habits.
BATTERYCYCLE:
- Reduces hazardous waste in landfills
- Decreases ground and water contamination
- Raises awareness about the importance of battery recycling
Recycling Batteries in the City of Ottawa
Take it
Back!
The
Take it Back! program is a City of Ottawa initiative that
works with retailers to collect a wide range of household
goods. The goods
collected range from propane tanks to egg cartons, and can
be returned to a retailer participating in the program. Many retailers collect batteries as part of the Take
it Back! program, including single-use, rechargeable, cell
phone and car batteries. More retailers take back rechargeable batteries than
single-use batteries, so you could consider switching to
rechargeable. You can find a
listing of all the materials collected as part of the
program and the retailers participating at
www.ottawa.ca/takeitback.