Don't forget about National Battery Day

I typically try to recycle as much as I am able to every day. The problem with that is I’m not exactly sure my hard recycling work truly pays off in the end. Like many who try their best to recycle, we like to think that we are doing good for the environment and the world. It’s a bit of a downer when we come across articles that say trash haulers typically pitch the recycles into their landfills no matter how hard their customers try to do the right thing.

On the other hand, I have come across many who fall into the category of lazy when recycling. These are the folks who just pitch anything into the recycle bin without even washing the goods. I cannot imagine how terrible it is for those who end up sifting through those so-called recyclable goods. They truly make the rest of us look quite bad. I’m surprised that the haulers are still in the recycling game at this point.

In other cases, there are hard-to-recycle-items that require the consumer to travel to a proper recycling depot. Sometimes I go to a scrap yard and drop off metallic items and that company pays me a paltry sum for the “donation.”

Let’s not even discuss throwing paint. That toxic stuff shouldn’t go into the landfills. Haulers recommend that you take the can and fill it with kitty litter to soak up the paint. I was skeptical with that idea at first until Cami got me to partake in that “recycling method.” It works! Now there are paint recycling events where you pay the folks to recycle your paint cans as part of a fundraiser. In my neck of the woods, the local high school stages such an event.

Then there are depots dedicated to recycling electronic goods. Those seem to be few and far between, but there are plenty of resources out there to find an "electronic recycler." Nevertheless, I have pitched some laptops off at the metallic recycling depot. I could not in any good conscience simply throw a laptop into the regular trash. Let’s not forget those laptops have those lithium batteries which are quite a hazard in many situations and probably are not great for the big landfill.

Speaking of batteries, the call 2 recycle website reminded me that National Battery Recycling Day is once again upon us. This year (2018), the special day is Sunday, February 18, 2018. Simply go to the website and check out all that you need to know about recycling batteries. Better yet, there is an excellent locator page to find a center closest to you. So, gather up those drained 9-volts, Ds, Cs, AAAs, AAs and much more, then head to your battery recycling depot on February 18.