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Battery collection drive extended to April 30 |
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Krista M. Hayes |
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Apr 26, 2007 |
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As part of this year’s EarthFest celebration at The University of Toledo, the Toledo section of the American Chemical Society has extended its drive and sponsorship of a $50 award for the UT student organization that collects the most old and used batteries until Monday, April 30.
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| UT students posed for a photo at their battery recycling booth during EarthFest. |
According to Edith Klingberg, UT lecturer of chemistry and Earth Day coordinator for the Toledo section of the American Chemical Society, there are two reasons why the organization decided to extend the battery collection drive on the UT Main Campus.
“First, since there is a monetary award associated with the drive, we wanted to give the student organizations more time to collect batteries and win the prize,” Klingberg said. “In addition, the collection drive is being continued even after the April 30 deadline for the monetary award, because we want to keep batteries out of the landfill. This is a relatively easy way to collect the batteries and get them to a recycler, so it made sense to continue the drive.
“In keeping with this year’s Earth Day theme ‘Recycling: Chemistry Can,’ we decided to collect batteries because everyone else was collecting cans and pop tabs,” Klingberg added. “Batteries need to be kept out of landfills, and recycling allows the heavy metals to be recovered and reused in the production of other batteries or products.”
All UT student organizations can donate or drop off batteries at the Department of Chemistry’s Stockroom in Bowman-Oddy Laboratories Room 2115 on Main Campus.
“If you are simply dropping off batteries to be recycled, they are not being weighed and anyone can drop them off,” Klingberg said. “If you are dropping off batteries that your student organization has collected, then you need to contact me so that they can be weighed and logged in for the prize money.”
She said that the collected old and used batteries will go to Environmental Recycling, which will then distribute the various batteries to the appropriate recyclers where the metals will be recovered and the acids will be properly disposed.
“Due to our great fortune of having so much land and good quality water in this region, we quickly forget that we are part of a chain that uses resources quickly and then disposes of them without considering the long-term consequences,” Klingberg said. “Every little bit helps, and if we can keep these toxins out of our ground water because of this drive, it is well-worth the effort.”
For more information on the Toledo section of the American Chemical Society’s battery collection drive, contact Klingberg at 419.530.4072 or at edith.klingberg@utoledo.edu.
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