Vermont Leads the Way for Keeping Waste Batteries out of Landfill : Call2Recycle Publishes Top 10 States for Battery Recycling

Call2Recycle, the US’s first and largest consumer battery recycling program, chose National Battery Day to reveal 2018 top 10 battery recycling states based on program participation. With Vermont topping the list, the following states made it into the top 10: Delaware, Georgia, Minnesota, California, Illinois, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. The top 10 states are ranked based on per capita collection performance.

Contributing factors driving the top 10 states performance were said to include strong participation from manufacturers along with public collection networks (municipalities and retailers). A surge in the removal and management of damaged batteries from the market and education awareness efforts also complemented collection efforts.

National Battery Day, celebrated each year on February 18th, reminds consumers to responsibly recycle their batteries once they no longer power devices. Proper handling, management and transportation of used batteries helps to mitigate the risk of safety incidents.

The top 10 battery recycling states responsibly disposed of nearly 3.5 million pounds (1360 metric tonnes) of batteries in 2018, helping to support the program’s mission of protecting the planet by keeping batteries out of landfill.

“National Battery Day provides the opportunity to recognize the contributions of our top 10 battery recycling states and spotlight the ease of year-round battery recycling,” said Call2Recycle Executive Vice President of External Relations, Linda Gabor. “As batteries continue to power our daily lives, we must continue to be good stewards of the environment by safely recycling batteries once they reach their end-of-life.”

The program’s collection network allows for easy and accessible battery recycling, with 86 percent of residents living within 10 miles of a drop-off location.

Last year, Call2Recycle collected 7.2 million pounds of consumer batteries. Since 1994, the program has diverted and recycled more than 115 million pounds of batteries from U.S. landfills.

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