Photo credit: Sam Dundon
Did you know that in the state of California all batteries, of any type, are officially considered hazardous waste? All Batteries. Even the ones I threw in the trash last week.
All batteries must be taken to one of the following:
- recycling center, or
- household hazardous waste disposal facility, or
- universal waste handler (e.g., storage facility or broker),
If you live in California and want to know where to recycle your batteries, check out this site Environment, Health, and Safety Online.
Also, did you know that Americans consume an average of 8 batteries per person per year? This sounds kind of low to me. We try to keep the number of battery operated toys around here to a bare minimum, and I’m still sure we go through more than 8 per year. Maybe this is the long sought excuse to put a complete moratorium on battery operated toys. Done!
So today I changed the 4 D size batteries out of Baby Kai’s swing and took them to the recycling center at Staples down the street. Pretty easy — took all of about 5 minutes.
Oh yeah, and yesterday I threw our old cordless phone on the floor after it died yet again in the middle of a phone conversation, breaking it into pieces. So I recycled that piece of shit as well.
–Mick
