Hi Pete and Shawn—

This past week, activities were as follows: 

• At Morgan’s request, I contacted Interstate All Battery Center today and learned that they charge $2/pound for alkaline, cordless tool, cell phone, and laptop batteries (nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion). They take any lead acid batteries at no charge (most are purchased by the U of I from them). They accept drop offs, but there is no difference in price between drop off and pick up. Some of the battery types they accept are rechargeable. There is no price difference between single-use and rechargeables. I provided an update to Morgan on this and offered to share it with the PWR SWATeam and other interested parties, as appropriate. 
• Also at Morgan’s request, I contacted Division of Research Safety to find out what they offer by way of battery recycling. They told me that will pick up batteries from those who submit a request for disposal. They will take any battery type, and it must be University property. Rechargeables are recycled through Call2Recycle; alkaline batteries are not recycled. There is no charge to the unit requesting disposal. DRS gets reimbursed by the Office of the Provost through a chemical waste disposal account. Again, I updated Morgan and offered to share the information as appropriate. 
• I contacted Call2Recycle to see whether we might be eligible for their free battery recycling program, but they told me it is available only to municipalities, not to universities. I followed up with a resident of Ashton Woods on her efforts with Housing to have the City of Champaign provide recycling at Ashton Woods so that they can include glass, tin, and more plastics in the collection there. She had already been in touch with Nichole Millage at the city and received confirmation that the City is willing to provide service. I let her know that if it’s just Ashton Woods that switches away from F&S service, there wouldn’t be any substantive issues on our part but that if the whole Housing operation switched over, we would need to talk with them about a transition plan because of the revenue that supports a couple of staff positions.

Best regards,
Marya Ryan
Zero Waste Coordinator