Now I know Umbra told ya that “alkaline batteries must simply go in the trash. Throw them out!”
That’ll be just fine for Californians — until Wednesday.
That’s right — Sending batteries to the city dump will be illegal, come Feb. 8.
You’re incredulous. Surely the government would’ve informed you of such a wide-reaching policy? Um, no. I first read about it on eWasteInsights (cuz I’m nerdy like that), in a post that pointed out that the new law was covered in depth only by TWO articles in the MSM.
One of these, in the San Diego Union Tribune, was mostly about how tough it is to figure out what is and is not legal to dump.
Still, I got a short list of now undumpable materials –
- AA, AAA, C and D batteries
- Cell phones, telephones, radios and microwave ovens
- Greeting cards that play music
- Sneakers with flashing lights in their soles
- Fluorescent light tubes and bulbs
- Mercury thermometers
– and a link to earth911 for more info on where to take this stuff.
After flailing around the earth911 site for a while, I found a zip code search for my nearest drop-off center, which told me that my nearest recycling center is 5.18 miles away, in Santa Monica.
Which made me go back to the v. first green LA girl post I wrote about recycling a DVD player at the UCLA SAFE Center — a facility just under 5 miles away.
And from the SAFE Center description, it seems I can pretty much take all my waste there. Which won’t be too bad, except I’ll need to make sure I get there on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, between 8am and 2 pm. Oh, and if I have electronic stuff, it’s Saturdays only.
Writes eWasteInsights: “One thing that the solid waste industry has learned over time — the options have to be convenient, and people have to know about them.”
So I really have to wonder what the fuck the California Department of Toxic Substances Control — the dept. responsible for this new change in law — is thinking — cuz they haven’t even made this new info avaliable on its website. According to the SD Union-Trib, “they say they are counting on voluntary compliance – not enforcement – to keep toxic metals out of landfills.”
I’m all for keeping mercury out of the city dumps. But even if Californians knew about this new rule, it’ll be the rare person who makes a 10-mile round trip to throw out the singing Valentine received from a lover with bad taste. And the Angelenos who do will make that 10-mile trip via gas guzzling cars.
Is a letter campaign in order?
Update, 1/10/07: The e-waste recycling options haven’t exactly gotten better, but here’s something listing where you CAN go recycle, as well as a brief look at a company trying to make e-recycling easier.
February 6th, 2006 at 3:12 am
http://www.californiarecycles.com/
February 6th, 2006 at 4:59 am
In upstate NY, our local grocery store chain (Wegmans) has a place to recycle household batteries, next to the bin where they collect the plastic grocery bags. It does a good job collecting from its customers. Perhaps you could approach a local chain to do the same. They would attract eco-friendly customers and do the environment a favor.
It would be little sweat off their back, just a weekly trip to said recycling center.
February 6th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
10k to drop of some batteries, what a chocker!
is it not common for grocery stores etc inthe US to have battery bins?
arent there any recycling companies in the US that are interested in having their bins in grocery stores and super market etc? maybe you should go for them, also?
i guess i am lucky in that sense because the municipal waste company (Braga, Portugal) put a recycling station along my walk to work (paper, plastic/metal and glass, and a small bin for batteries).
its a bit ironic to make it illegal, how would one monitor that? have the garbage guys open up all trash bin?
voluntary compliance? that would work if the density of recycling bins are high enough, but is probably old news …
one other option is to make it mandatory for the retailers and/or manufacturers etc to take care of certain wastes, such as batteries. it is easier for a big company to organise the recycling of batteries rather than having everyone on LA going 10k or more for a flat battery …
good luck!
February 6th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
I agree, this law is virtually meaningless if they don’t publicize it or make alternatives cheap & accessible. I’ve done research before about where to dump Alkaline (disposable) batteries because I know that stuff isn’t good for landfills, and found that Ikea, Radio Shack, and Home Depot locations will take them. However, I’m happy to learn about the Santa Monica Recycling Center, because they accept so many different things. Rather than taking my batteries to one place, plastics to another, I can take it all to SMRC in one trip. I hate throwing out plastics that aren’t #1 or #2, and we already have enough tupperware to last a lifetime.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Really? There’s a RadioShack near me, so I’ll check them out! I tried to recycle them at Long’s once, but was rebuffed :( Will report back on what I find.
Don’t know what to do with those mercury-contaminated singing cards though –
February 9th, 2006 at 9:38 am
you can always return it to costco/walmart… they will take back anything… you’ll get a few $ too!
February 10th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Really? No way I’m setting foot into Walmart — Plus we luckily only have 1 in LA :) — but I’ll have to check out the costco thing! Thanks for the tip :)