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I can't see battery pickup working except as a once per year kind of thing. And around me, there is a once per year electronics recycling pickup in my neighborh
by creato 3y ago
I can't see battery pickup working except as a once per year kind of thing. And around me, there is a once per year electronics recycling pickup in my neighborhood.
Also, "take it somewhere" isn't that bad when "somewhere" is home depot, which has a battery disposal bin.
- shrimp_emoji 3y agoI would toss it in the trash. I don't want to go to Home Depot. Lol There are only two ways to prevent this: 1. The waste management system should put everything on a big conveyor belt and filter out toxic/dangerous waste so that the consumer doesn't have to care about special handling. 2. Those materials should be outlawed from being used in consumer tech.
- rubicon33 3y ago> I can't see battery pickup working except as a once per year kind of thing. Why not? > Also, "take it somewhere" isn't that bad when "somewhere" is home depot, which has a battery disposal bin. I think you underestimate how lazy people are. Lets not leave the health and safety of our landfills up to something as risky as human laziness.
- ethbr1 3y agoAgreed. If we're serious about this, mandatory bi-yearly pickup of hazardous material (batteries, paint, solvents, etc), with awareness campaigns seems reasonable. Push it down as a requirement on garbage companies and then monitor it through them.
- Aurornis 3y ago> Why not? Because weekly pickup is expensive to run. In most places you pay for your weekly pickup one way or another. There’s no way people are going to vote for or approve an additional weekly pickup charge for something they dispose of very infrequently. There are many stores with battery drop offs. If you really want to make a dent, put the battery recycling drop offs in grocery stores and put signage around it. Routine pickup would be more hassle: You’d need to figure out the bins, the pickup method, the scheduling, etc. It’s really terrible for anything that isn’t both large and steady, like your waste bin.
- mcronce 3y agoMany places already have weekly/biweekly pickup for single-stream glass/plastic/paper/aluminum recycling - is there any fundamental reason that batteries couldn't be added to the stream?
- coryrc 3y agoThey leak nasty stuff. Every worker would need to be wearing more protective clothing and respirators.
- thephyber 3y agoWhy are employees touching leaking batteries? Just have some hardware stores keep a bucket labeled “recycle your batteries here” and the recycler can make monthly visits.
- coryrc 3y agoWe're talking about curbside pickup. There's men who lift the buckets and put them in trucks. Then humans help sort them at facilities. The worst thing about recycling now is mostly leftover organics and sharp lids.
- yclge 3y agoHow many batteries do you dispose of in a week? In a month? In a year? I have a lot of battery powered devices, but it would take me a year to fill even a grocery bag with discarded batteries (with the exception of the occasional car or UPS battery swap every couple of years). But I generally use rechargeable batteries.
- namibj 3y agoIn Germany regular grocery stores are in walking distance (if your living rural, you might strongly prefer a bicycle, though), and last I looked, the mandatory post-checkout secondary-packaging-disposal/-recycling station includes a battery bin. Though it might only be required if they also sell batteries, which they (so far) still do.
- ta988 3y agoYes it is just that the US is extremely late to any good sense like that.
- arwineap 3y agoKeep in mind that home depot only accepts RECHARGEABLE cells, not your standard alkaline cells that accounts for most of people's disposal needs
- ahoka 3y agoBecause alkaline batteries are (AFAIK) safe to throw away.
- Ringz 3y agoBut they should be recycled.
- RecycledEle 3y agoMy home depot sells alkaline batteries.
- fy20 3y agoWhere I am in Europe, a lot of supermarkets have a bin that can take light bulbs, batteries and small electronics (no bigger than a toaster). I believe this is based on an EU regulation that the seller has to accept electronic goods for recycling at end of life.
- BrandonMarc 3y agoI've tried that. One by one the stores near me stopped accepting batteries. Even the municipal recycling center, where I sometimes take bags full of paper or plastic bottles, refuses to take batteries. The local Batteries+Bulbs store is the only place left near me. For how long? It should be FAR far easier to do.