San Mateo County Wide Battery & Cell Phone Recycling Collection Starts 10/1/2007!

Good news came in the form of postcard today! Now single-family residents in San Mateo County can all enjoy the program of recycling old batteries and cell phones! I still have cell phones that I used in college and that’s a long long time ago! I pulled the following info from the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (www.rethinkwaste.org) and it’s shocking how a town of roughly 30,000 people along during the pilot program, can recycled over 1,600 pounds of batteries & cell phones!!! Craziness. It makes me ponder how much difference we can all make by doing something so simple like recycling.

“In the first three months of the curbside battery and cell phone pilot program, San Carlos residents recycled over 1,600 pounds of batteries and cell phones. According to a recent survey, 39% said they used to dispose of their household batteries in the trash. Now that the state universal waste law has gone into effect, they know this is no longer legal. The survey also showed that of the residents who have used this convenient new service, 85% were “extremely satisfied.” They are especially thankful they don’t have to drive to a store, city hall or recycling center anymore!

Some residents asked what happens to the batteries and cell phones. Allied Waste drivers take the plastic zip-type bags off the top of the mixed paper bin and place them in a special container in their truck. The heavy metals or toxic components of batteries such as cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, manganese, lead and lithium are separated and recycled. Cell phones are reused or recycled.”

Useful websites: www.rethinkwaste.org & www.alliedwastesanmateocounty.com

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