North America’s Foremost Consumer Battery Stewardship Organization, Together with 11 Initial Companies, Plan for Statewide Recycling Program to Launch in 2016
Atlanta – March 24, 2015 – Call2Recycle, Inc., North America’s first and largest consumer battery stewardship organization, has been selected by 11 initial companies to develop, implement and promote a mandated single-use battery recycling program in Vermont.
Vermont is the first state to require single-use manufacturers develop a program for collecting and recycling spent primary batteries (including AA, C, D, and other household alkaline batteries), removing them from the local landfills. This innovative recycling law goes into effect January 1, 2016.
As required by the Vermont law, Call2Recycle will submit a plan by June 1, 2015, on behalf of the following companies, which currently include: Ace Hardware Corporation, Dorcy International, Duracell/The Gillette Company/Procter & Gamble, Energizer Battery Manufacturing, Interstate Batteries Recycling, Panasonic Corporation, Polaroid, Rayovac/Spectrum Brands, RiteAid, Sony Electronics, and Varta Microbattery.
For 21 years Call2Recycle has serviced the state of Vermont with free collection and recycling of rechargeable batteries. Building on its current network of nearly 100 drop-off sites within 10 miles of 86 percent of Vermont residents, Call2Recycle will continue to make it easy and convenient to recycle batteries. Call2Recycle is working with a variety of stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan for expanding battery recycling in Vermont. Upon approval, Vermont residents will be able to recycle their single-use batteries beginning January 1, 2016.
Call2Recycle has led a nationally embraced stewardship program for collecting and recycling batteries and cellphones since 1994. It recently celebrated a significant milestone when the organization announced that 100 million pounds of used batteries had been diverted from landfills and responsibly recycled during the past 20 years due to their stewardship work.
“Millions of single-use batteries used to power toys, flashlights, wireless devices and other consumer products are thrown away every day, when they could be diverted from landfills for recycling,” said Carl Smith, CEO & president of Call2Recycle, Inc. “We applaud Vermont for addressing this issue and look forward to working with state government and our partners to implement a recycling program in the months ahead.”
“Furthermore, Call2Recycle is prepared to do the same for other states who also adopt similar legislation, and one day have every state committed to recycling single-use batteries just as paper, aluminum and other post-consumer materials are recycled now,” Smith said.
About Call2Recycle, Inc.
Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle, Inc.— operating North America’s first and largest consumer battery stewardship program—is a non-profit organization that collects and recycles batteries at no cost for municipalities, businesses and consumers. Since 1996, Call2Recycle has diverted 100 million pounds (45 million kilograms) of batteries and cellphones from the solid waste stream and established over 34,000 collection sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is the first program of its kind to receive the Responsible Recycling Practices Standard (R2) certification. Learn more at call2recycle.org or call2recycle.ca or 877-723-1297. Follow at facebook.com/call2recycle or twitter.com/call2recycle.
For more information, please contact:
Kelly Mack
Environics Communications
[email protected]
(202) 296-2002
Jennifer Childress
Director, Communications & PromotionCall2Recycle, Inc.
[email protected]
(678) 218-4580
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