Observations on Congressman Roskam's Household Battery Recycling Program

Last week I dropped off a bag of household batteries at Congressman Peter Roskam‘s (6th District-IL) office for his Household Battery Recycling Program. Roskam started this program since the city of Wheaton had discontinued their successful battery recycling program which had recycled 8 tons of batteries in 11 months. He also reports that in 2009, there was a 6.9% increase in battery recycling in spite of a tough economy.

Even though the collected stash of recycled batteries when I stopped by didn’t seem like a lot in terms of cubic volume, maybe a couple large storage boxes worth, the staffer that was working there and I commented on how heavy even this amount was. Got me thinking not only about how this keeps some dreaded chemicals out of landfills, but it also cuts down on the weight of trash that must be hauled to these areas. Moving weighty trash uses additional resources such as fuel.

Kudos to Congressman Roskam for stepping up to the plate for the environment!

This also got me thinking about ways that you can help lessen the environmental impact of household batteries with your promotional product purchases by selecting products that…

Don’t Use Batteries - Go low tech. Remember, low tech doesn’t mean low impact. Carefully selected non-powered items are often just as appreciated.
Do Use Alternative Energy Sources - Dynamo (generates energy by turning a crank) or solar powered products provide power without piles of batteries.
Incorporate Energy-Saving Components – Flashlights that use energy-saving and long-lasting LED bulbs would be a good choice.