Call2Recycle Canada celebrates 20 years of battery stewardship
Call2Recycle Canada celebrates 20 years of battery stewardship
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Canada’s national consumer battery recycling stewardship organization Call2Recycle Canada, based in Toronto, has announced two milestone celebrations—the 20th anniversary of its commitment to help Canadians collect used batteries for recycling and record-breaking collections in 2016.
The organization was founded in 1997 by the battery industry long before provincial mandates to collect and recycle batteries. The industry sought to voluntarily control the amount of waste it was contributing to the waste stream through a national collection and recycling effort. Since its inception, the Call2Recycle program in Canada has collected more than 13 million kilograms of batteries for recycling.
“We have been able to responsibly manage the end-of-life of batteries thanks to the overwhelming support and participation of our stewards, collection sites and the public,” says Joe Zenobio, executive director of Call2Recycle Canada. “For the past 20 years, Canadians have helped us in collecting and responsibly recycling batteries across the country. We want to thank Canadians for their continued role in keeping batteries out of our landfills and are excited to continue working together to make a positive environmental impact for years to come.”
2016 marks the program’s best year, with a record of more than 2.7 million kilograms of household batteries collected in Canada in 2016—an increase of 12 percent over 2015. Provincially:
- Quebec collected nearly 1.1-million kilograms (up 17 percent, compared with 2015);
- Manitoba collected nearly 100,000 kilograms (up 19 percent over 2015);
- British Columbia collected under 700,000 kilograms (up 8 percent over 2015); and
- Ontario collected more than 400,000 kilograms (up 8 percent over 2015).
The continued growth of the Call2Recycle program signifies that Canadians are looking for ways to reduce waste. Call2Recycle says through research conducted through Nielsen, a leading consumer research organization, shows that more than 7 in 10 Canadian consumers are aware of battery recycling in their communities. The study also highlighted the opportunity for growth: despite high awareness, more than half of Canadian consumers would classify themselves as battery recyclers.
“As we celebrate this milestone year, we will continue to offer a robust, convenient program that ensures consumers can recycle their batteries safely and with ease. We are looking to all Canadians to join together to reduce waste and make an even greater positive impact on the environment in 2017,” says Zenobio.
To help ensure Call2Recycle’s collection and recycling program remains sustainable while continuing to meet the highest environmental standards, Call2Recycle Canada says it will begin implementing an environmental handling fee (EHF) on single-use household batteries in British Columbia and Manitoba, effective Feb. 1, 2017. The fee schedule for batteries currently in place in Quebec will be amended. This industry best practice will ensure Call2Recycle continues to be able to responsibly recycle batteries at the end of their useful life, the organization says. For more information on updates to the EHF fee schedule, visit call2recycle.ca/fee-schedule.
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Source: Recycling Today
Call2Recycle Canada celebrates 20 years of battery stewardship
<![CDATA[Canada’s national consumer battery recycling stewardship organization Call2Recycle Canada, based in Toronto, has announced two milestone celebrations—the 20th anniversary of its commitment to help Canadians collect used batteries for recycling and record-breaking collections in 2016.The organization was founded in 1997 by the battery industry long before provincial mandates to collect and recycle batteries. The industry sought to voluntarily control the amount of waste it was contributing to the waste stream through a national collection and recycling effort. Since its inception, the Call2Recycle program in Canada has collected more than 13 million kilograms of batteries for recycling. “We have been able to responsibly manage the end-of-life of batteries thanks to the overwhelming support and participation of our stewards, collection sites and the public,” says Joe Zenobio, executive director of Call2Recycle Canada. “For the past 20 years, Canadians have helped us in collecting and responsibly recycling batteries across the country. We want to thank Canadians for their continued role in keeping batteries out of our landfills and are excited to continue working together to make a positive environmental impact for years to come.”2016 marks the program’s best year, with a record of more than 2.7 million kilograms of household batteries collected in Canada…