Westmorland-Alberta Waste Management Corporation Honoured for Setting Precedent for Recycling Used Rechargeable Batteries
TORONTO, October 24, 2003 – The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a nonprofit public service organization dedicated to recycling rechargeable batteries, announced today the winner of
its third annual “Community Recycling Leadership Award.” The recipient of this year’s award was the Westmorland-Albert Waste Management Corporation in New Brunswick. The winner was announced in conjunction with Waste Reduction Week at a celebratory gathering at Mapleton Park, located in Moncton, New Brunswick.
“The success of the RBRC program depends largely on our community partners spreading the word and making it easy for local residents to recycle their used rechargeable batteries,” said Ralph Millard, Executive Vice President, RBRC. “The mission of the Recycling Leadership Award is to recognize the programs that set the precedent for other communities to follow and the Westmorland-Albert Waste Management Corporation is leading the way.”
The RBRC Recycling Leadership Award recognizes RBRC community program participants for their outstanding efforts to recycle rechargeable batteries. The Westmorland-Albert Waste Management Corporation was selected from RBRC community program participants across Canada and recognized for the following efforts:
- Being the first community in Canada to sign-up for the RBRC program in 2000;
- Collecting over 650 kilograms of used rechargeable batteries in the first half of 2003, already surpassing the total number of rechargeable batteries they collected in the total 2002 calendar year by almost 50 kilograms;
- Designating April 21, 2003 as “Rechargeable Battery Recycling Day” to coincide with RBRC’s annual “Battery Check Week” – a national call-to-action to encourage people to check and recycle their rechargeable batteries;
- Signing-up 14 fire departments for the RBRC program on “Rechargeable Battery Recycling Day”;
- Promoting the recycling of used rechargeable batteries throughout their community through educational literature and special drop-off events.
“Encouraging members of the community to recycle their used rechargeable batteries and help conserve natural resources as well as valuable landfill space is the right thing to do,” said Bill Slater, General Manager, Westmorland-Albert Waste Management Corporation. “What’s great about the RBRC program is that it is easy to implement and it’s free – two reasons why every community in Canada should be encouraging its householders to recycle their used rechargeables!”
In October 2001, RBRC removed all fees associated with its community recycling program. Since then, over 350 programs have signed on to recycle rechargeable batteries in their local communities, bringing the total number of participants to over 950 in North America. For more information on implementing a community recycling program, contact RBRC toll free at 877-723-1297 or go to www.rbrc.org/community/index.html
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About Call2Recycle®
Call2Recycle is the industry’s first and only product stewardship program for rechargeable batteries. The nonprofit program is administered by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a public service organization dedicated to rechargeable battery recycling. There are more than 30,000 Call2Recycle drop-off locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. More than 175 manufacturers and marketers of portable rechargeable batteries and products show their commitment to conserve natural resources and prevent rechargeable batteries from entering the solid waste stream by funding the Call2Recycle program. In pursuit of its mission, Call2Recycle also collects old cellphones, which are either recycled or refurbished and resold when possible with a portion of the proceeds benefiting select charities. For more information, call 877-2-RECYCLE or visit www.call2recycle.org.
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