Canadian province expands battery recycling program

Call2Recycle Canada Inc., a consumer battery stewardship organization connected to Atlanta-based Call2Recycle, has expanded its program to provide more options for battery recycling in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

According to an announcement on Call2Recycle’s website, the nonprofit environmental stewardship organization has been voluntarily collecting batteries in Saskatchewan since 1997. As of Jan. 1, Saskatchewan expanded the ability for residents to dispose of household batteries through a partnership with Call2Recycle Canada in order to meet regulatory requirements of the province’s Household Hazardous Waste Products Stewardship Regulations of 2019.

Through the province’s battery recycling program, single-use and rechargeable consumer batteries weighing less than 5 kilograms each, excluding lead-acid batteries, are acceptable in the program. Call2Recycle Canada is partnered with SARCAN Recycling, a recycling division of the Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres, to collect and recycle batteries. SARCAN will offer 73 collection spots as part of Call2Recycle’s network of battery collection sites.

According to the government release as part of the new program, an environmental handling fee will be paid at the point of purchase effective Jan. 1. The fee rates range, depending on the size of the battery and chemistry type. Fees for AAA and AA batteries are 2 cents and 4 cents, respectively. Fees will be paid to Call2Recycle for the collection, transportation and recycling of batteries.

“We’re pleased and would like to congratulate the province on this move toward battery diversion from the waste stream,” says Kristen Romilly, Call2Recycle Canada’s director of Western Canada. “We look forward to increasing diversion away from the waste stream.”