Battery recycling is getting cheaper and easier in St. Albert now that extended producer responsibility has supercharged waste management, says the city’s waste and diversion supervisor.
Alberta’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework for waste kicked in on April 1. The system shifts the cost of recycling single-use products, paper, packaging, and household hazardous and special products (including household batteries) from municipalities onto producers.
St. Albert used to pay a company to collect and recycle about 1,000 kg of household batteries from its residents each month, said Felipe Albuquerque, waste and diversion supervisor for the City of St. Albert. Now, the non-profit group Call2Recycle Canada is handling battery recycling Alberta-wide, and will soon start paying St. Albert to process batteries collected at the Mike Mitchell Recycling Depot.
“We don’t have to pay anything anymore,” Albuquerque said.
Call2Recycle Canada collects and recycles batteries from across Canada through its Recycle Your Batteries, Canada! program, said Jon McQuaid, the group’s vice president of marketing, communications, and innovation. It has about 1,100 collection sites in Alberta, and collected some 2.3 million kg of batteries last year through them.
Alberta’s EPR legislation requires battery producers to keep at least 40 per cent of all household batteries (rechargeable and not) out of the landfill by 2027. To reach this target, McQuaid said Call2Recycle planned to ramp up its recycling awareness campaigns in the coming months and to deploy many more collection sites. Some of those sites would feature new battery-shaped “smart containers” equipped with heat sensors to detect potential fires.
“We’re thrilled to expand our program under the EPR framework,” he said.
How to recycle
Batteries contain hazardous metals and acids that can harm the environment if thrown in the trash, Albuquerque said. Lithium ion batteries can also explode and start fires, causing millions of dollars of damage.
“We definitely don’t want to see any batteries go to the landfill,” he said.
McQuaid said Call2Recycle collects batteries nationwide and sends them to a network of processors who turn them into products such as stainless steel, golf clubs, bicycles, and new batteries. Producers pay environmental fees to cover the cost of this processing; it’s up to them to decide if they want to pass this cost onto their customers or not.
Call2Recycle currently collects single-use and rechargeable dry-cell batteries that weigh up to 5 kg from 12 locations in St. Albert, including the Mike Mitchell depot, London Drugs, Staples, and Save-On Foods, the recycleyourbatteries.ca website reports. Customers dropping off button or coin cell, lithium ion, or 9 V or higher alkaline batteries should cover the batteries’ terminals with tape or place each in its own clear, sealed bag to prevent fires.
Albuquerque said some Call2Recycle sites may turn away corroded or damaged batteries or require them to be packaged in specific ways. Residents should take such batteries to the Mike Mitchell depot so city crews can take care of them.
Albuquerque said city staff planned to recommend new, lower recycling fees to city council this April 15 as a result of cost savings through EPR. Staff were also in talks with Call2Recycle to accept more types of batteries, such as electric bike and damaged lithium batteries.
Visit recycleyourbatteries.ca to learn more about where and how to recycle batteries in St. Albert.
