New campaign aims to remind Canadians to recycle their batteries

Some of the battery disposal boxes used by Call2Recycle. (Courtesy: Call2Recycle)

When it comes to recycling household batteries, Canadians seem to play their part.

“In 2023, Canadians across the board recycled almost 6M kilograms of batteries diverted from landfill,” said Call2Recycle Canada marketing, communications & innovation vice-president, Jon McQuaid.

“It was the best year yet of our Call2Recycle program.”

Looking specifically at the Maritimes, New Brunswickers recycled almost 200,000 kilos or over 400,000 lbs last year, Nova Scotians kept about 100,000 kilos of batteries out of landfills and Islanders recycled over 45,000 kilos of batteries which Call2Recycle says is a 7 per cent increase across the province.

Looking to increase those numbers even more, Call2Recyle has launched a new campaign that puts small, simple decision of whether you should recycle or toss your batteries into the spotlight.

“What this campaign does is it shows the moment of when consumers in their homes are faced with the decision – what do I do with my battery at end of life? Do I do the wrong thing and throw it in the garbage or do I do the right thing and responsibly collect it, protect it and then drop it off for recycling,” said McQuaid.

“We want to engage Canadians in a fun way to really demonstrate that it’s convenient, easy and important to recycle batteries and they don’t belong in the garbage.”

He says there are three main reasons why it’s important to dispose of them properly – safety, the environment and the economic benefits.

“Batteries at end of life could hold a residual charge, so if they are thrown into the garbage or your regular recycling and they come into contact with other objects, it can pose as a risk,” he said.

On top of that, he says many batteries contain toxic chemicals that can leak into the waterways and soil and if they’re recycled they can actually be made into new products like stainless steel appliances or golf clubs for example.

Across Canada, Call2Recycle has over 12,000 collection points including hundreds right here in the Maritimes.

“People come in specifically for that,” said Downey Home Hardware Store manager, Dan McIntosh.

Downey Home Hardware has had a used battery drop off for as long as McIntosh has worked there and he says they accept everything that fits into the bin, except for car batteries.

A box that's used to dispose of batteries. (CTV/Alana Pickrell) “Depending on the season, it’s going to be about once a month, but we’ve had it where it fills up quicker. Sometimes it can take a few months and then it gets filled up. Right now it’s about three quarters full and that’s probably since just after Christmas,” he said.

Adding, “There’s ways to recycle things, it’s just certain things we don’t know how to recycle and it’s a speciality item to recycle so it’s just keeps hundreds of pounds of stuff out of the landfills, which is going to help everybody.”

Other tips that experts gave was to store old batteries in a non-metal container and to even tape the ends of them for extra safety.

Then it’s just as simple as remembering to take them with you the next time you’re out running errands.

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