After a year spent writing about sustainable projects around the world, the Green Initiatives Committee is going to keep it local this year and focus on Calgary. Each month, we will highlight a project or an initiative to shine a light on what Calgary is doing to protect the climate and advance towards a sustainable future. This month we’re discussing batteries, which although not unique to Calgary, are an important topic for sustainability and safety reasons.
The City of Calgary has updated guidance regarding batteries – please do not put these (even little AAA or AA alkaline batteries) into your black or blue cart. According to the City website, battery fires are on the rise with over 50 incidents at our landfills and recycling facilities, just in the year 2024 alone!
Recycling batteries allows the reclaiming of the metals contained within the batteries, including rare metals, which of course then reduces overall demand for mining of these materials.
Recycle Your Batteries Canada has an informative website (https://recycleyourbatteries.ca) that helps you find a free drop-off location nearby. Some examples near Mount Pleasant include the Home Depot on 16 Ave NW by 19 St NW, The Source at North Hill Mall, the Rona on Edmonton Trail NE, the London Drugs at Brentwood, and ListenUP! Canada at 2004 14 Street NW. Most locations take both single-use and rechargeable batteries, and limited locations even take e-mobility batteries also, such as those from e-bikes. Check the website for details. Operated by Call2Recycle, since its inception in 1997, it has diverted over 45 million kilograms of batteries from Canadian landfills.
Batteries can also be brought to one of the City’s Eco Centres, but as they’re located at the City landfills, this option is likely less convenient unless you also have other materials to bring as well.
For safety purposes, to prevent the battery from connecting and reacting with other items, the following batteries require terminal protection:
• Lithium
• Coin (button) cell
• Alkaline – 9 volt or higher
• Small sealed lead acid
How to Protect the Terminals
Option 1: Cover the terminals using clear packing tape, duct tape or electrical tape, but make sure the brand name or chemistry label is still visible.
Option 2: Place each battery in a clear Ziploc-style bag. AA, AAA, C, and D batteries can be bagged in groups.
For more battery information but also anything else you might want to recycle or dispose of, the City of Calgary has a wonderful and comprehensive “What Goes Where” online tool (calgary.ca/whatgoeswhere) to help you know what items go in which bin or cart. For example, you can look up “parchment paper” and find out that it can go in your green compost bin.
We hope that you will enjoy staying with us as we tour Calgary this year and if you want to get involved and be a part of making Mount Pleasant a greener community, we would love to have you join the committee. Please email [email protected] for more information. If you’d like to get added to our email list, or if you have any questions, you can find us on the Mount Pleasant Community Association page as well.
Have a great month,
The MPCA Green Initiatives Committee
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