‘Improved options’ sought for Canada’s batteries

Canada – The launch of a national recycling initiative involving the government of Canada and Call2Recycle Canada will ‘soon provide improved options’ for the proper disposal of used batteries, according to the North American battery stewardship programme.

The 2014 roll-out of nationwide collections follows a successful pilot programme. It will collect consumer single-use and rechargeable batteries from various Canadian federal government agencies and departments, including the Department of Justice Canada, the Revenue Agency, the Corrections Service of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

‘As the thousands of people across the country employed by national government start to contribute to the programme, it will be exciting to see how much we can collectively divert from landfills,’ notes Joe Zenobio, executive director of Call2Recycle Canada.

The organisation, which has bases in Toronto, Vancouver and Quebec, says it was able to increase battery collections nationwide by 43% in 2013 alone. Last year also brought 67% growth in university campus collections, amounting to more than 60 tonnes of batteries collected.

For more information, visit: www.call2recycle.ca