General News

Battery collection week runs November 7 to 11

October 13, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It’s time to find all those dead and used batteries as curbside battery collection returns for the County of Simcoe from Nov. 7 to 11.

This program is vital to protecting the environment by keeping batteries, which contain harmful substances, out of garbage and landfills. Some batteries may also pose health and safety risks due to leaking or the potential for fire and explosion.

Battery bags with instructions are being mailed to households in October. Batteries can also be placed in clear sealed bags.

Residents can place battery bags on garbage and recycling carts for County of Simcoe collections.

The program is for single-used batteries only, including type AAA, AA, A, C, D, 9-volt, and button batteries commonly used for hearing aids and watches.

Rechargeable batteries, cell phone and laptop batteries, car batteries, industrial batteries, and battery packs are not accepted in the program but may be taken to a municipal household hazardous waste facility for safe, free disposal.

Collected batteries are consolidated and sent for processing to separate the various components with approximately 90 per cent of the battery components being recycled.

In February, the County of Simcoe was recognized as Call2Recycle’s 2021 leader in sustainability, thanks to residents increased participating in the battery recycling program.

The County collect 21,842 kilograms of household batteries at its five household hazardous waste depots and 45,535 kilograms during the curbside battery collection week through the Call2Recycle program during 2021, making it one of the program’s top-performing partners across six provinces.

Readers Comments (0)