A battery recycling milestone has been achieved by Call2Recycle Canada

Call2Recycle Canada is a battery stewardship organisation which is located in the County of Simcoe, Ontario and Toronto. This excellent organisation recently announced that they achieved a significant collection milestone.

Whilst operating in Ontario, Call2Recycle has become the largest registered battery producer responsibility organisation (PRO) within the province. Currently Call2Recycle has just under 3,000 battery drop-off points throughout the province and all of these are specifically designed to be easily accessible for over 98% of Ontarians.

During 2024, a collaboration began between Call2Recycle and the county, with the main aim of recycling used batteries and providing education to the region’s 350,000-plus residents. This education focused on the benefits that come with responsible battery recycling practices, as well as making battery recycling more accessible through the county’s five permanent household hazardous waste depots. These specific areas are where it is possible to drop off batteries at any time of the year.

So far the partners have commented on this, saying that, ‘these efforts culminated during the county’s Battery Collection Week curb side initiative, with the publication of educational materials about battery recycling through the distribution of bags for residents to place their batteries directly at the curb during waste collection, which greatly contributed to the success of the program.’

It was back in 2020 when the county and Call2Recycle decided to start collaborating and sharing their efforts, with the aim of aiding the county’s sustainability goals. So far, since the partnership began, the parties have been able to collect over 225,000 kg of used batteries. In recognition of this impressive effort and its battery recycling commitment, it was in 2023 when the county was awarded the Leader in Sustainability Award from Call2Recycle.

Call2Recycle spoke about this impressive milestone, saying, ‘the county collected more than 50,000 kilograms of spent batteries during its Battery Collection Week, held November 4-7.’ Call2Recycle added that, ‘it was one of the most successful curb side battery collection events in its 27-year history in the country.’

Simcoe County Warden, Basil Clarke, commented, “The outstanding battery recycling efforts by the county’s residents demonstrate our community’s strong environmental consciousness. On behalf of the County of Simcoe, I could not be more proud of the residents of Simcoe County. This illustrates our dedication to making communities even more responsible, to create a lasting and meaningful environmental impact.”

Call2Recycle Canada President, Joe Zenobio, mentioned, “Simcoe County’s exceptional achievement is a powerful environmental success story for Ontarians, as we continue engaging and encouraging other municipalities across the province to adopt similar curbside collection initiatives to help advance Ontario’s waste diversion goals.”