The program allows users to return their rechargeable batteries to participating national retail chains, such as The Home Depot, RadioShack, Circuit City, Best Buy, Lowe’s and Target. RBRC can recycle nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion and small sealed lead batteries.
Used batteries are sent to a metals recovery facility where cadmium and other materials are reclaimed to produce new products. While these heavy metals present no threat to human health or the environment when being used, they eventually need to be replaced and should be recycled in order to preserve the environment.
According to RBRC, rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras and remote control toys. RBRC has recycled more than 42 million pounds of rechargeable batteries since 1996.
Flashlight manufacturer Streamlight, one of the program’s funding members, reminds all flashlight users to recycle their rechargeable batteries.
“Recycling rechargeable flashlight batteries is as easy as taking them to the nearest participating Call2Recycle national retailer,” said Ray Sharrah, Streamlight’s chief operating officer. “We encourage rechargeable flashlight users to join with Streamlight and other manufacturers in protecting the environment by taking this simple step.”
More than 50,000 retail, business and community collection locations are enrolled in RBRC’s rechargeable battery recycling program throughout Canada and the United States. For more information on Call2Recycle, visit http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle.