Single-use battery recycling program to launch in Vermont

North American battery stewardship organisation Call2Recycle has been selected by 11 initial companies to develop, implement and promote a mandated single-use battery recycling program in Vermont. Vermont is the first state to require single-use manufacturers to develop a program for collecting and recycling spent primary batteries (including AA, C, D, and other household alkaline batteries), removing them from local landfills. This recycling law goes into effect January 1, 2016. As required by the Vermont law, Call2Recycle will submit a plan by June 1, 2015, on behalf of the following companies, which currently include: Ace Hardware Corporation, Dorcy International, Duracell/The Gillette Company/Procter & Gamble, Energizer Battery Manufacturing, Interstate Batteries Recycling, Panasonic Corporation, Polaroid, Rayovac/Spectrum Brands, RiteAid, Sony Electronics, and Varta Microbattery. Once the battery recycling program plan has been approved, Vermont residents will be able to recycle their single-use batteries beginning January 1, 2016. For 21 years Call2Recycle has serviced the state of Vermont with free collection and recycling of rechargeable batteries and has a network of nearly 100 drop-off sites within 10 miles of 86% of Vermont residents. “Millions of single-use batteries used to power toys, flashlights, wireless devices and other consumer products are thrown away every day, when they could be diverted from landfills for recycling,” said Carl Smith, CEO & president of Call2Recycle. ### Read more UK battery recycling project extracts 99.9% of metal oxides The UK government backed ReCharge project has resulted in a complex multistage process to extract valuable metals from portable batteries, use them as a resource and decrease the amount of Zinc, Manganese, Nickel and other metals presently going to landfill or being exported as waste.