Recycle and Repurpose Rechargeables

Nevada City Rotary presents the Three "R" Event:

Recycle & Repurpose Rechargeables

The Rotary Club of Nevada City is excited to announce the details of their 3rd annual three “R” event to collect, recycle and repurpose rechargeable
lithium-ion batteries and devices on Saturday, September 21, 10am - 2pm  in partnership with Redwood Materials at the Rood Center in Nevada City.

Have you checked your junk drawers lately?

Easy, Quick Drive-Through in the Rood Center Parking Lot

The public can drive-up and drop-off lithium-ion rechargeable devices and batteries for recycling by Redwood Materials, a company that uses the recycled metals to make new rechargeable batteries.
 
Eligible items for collection include cellphones, tablets, laptops, electric toothbrushes, e-shavers, vapes, wireless headphones, Bluetooth speakers, power tool batteries, video game controllers, among others.
 
This is NOT an electronic (e-waste) collection event. How to tell the difference? If the item has an electric cord, that’s e-waste, not a recyclable battery item.  Read more in Press Release.
 
Nevada County Rood Center ~ 950 Maidu Avenue, Nevada City, CA

Consumer devices contribute to the world’s fastest growing waste stream.

The largest lithium and cobalt mines in the western hemisphere can be found in our country’s junk drawers. If we recover materials from old products, we significantly decrease society’s reliance on newly mined materials.

All lithium-ion batteries are made up of varying amounts of metals like cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium. Your smart phones, laptops and electric vehicles all have batteries made of these same metals. If we recover materials from old, end-of-life products, which can be sustainably broken down to their raw metals nearly infinitely, we significantly decrease society’s reliance on newly mined materials. 

The problem is, today, few pathways exist to get these old products recycled responsibly. But it’s been said that “one of the largest lithium and cobalt mines in the western hemisphere can be found in the junk drawers of America” as people stockpile these products with little information on how to safely and responsibly dispose of them.

Solution

If recycled, your lithium-ion batteries and rechargeable devices can decrease global reliance on mining and lower the cost and environmental impact of our products.

Rotary is on a mission to collect as many of these old products as possible to sustainably recycle, refine, and remanufacture these batteries here in America.

It’s not necessary to extract the battery from the device; just bring the entire product to be recycled. The recovery of the essential minerals will help ensure the security of American supply chains for electric vehicle batteries and clean energy products.