Recycling. It is a word that is used often enough, common to most. It is a word describing the re-use or re-purposing of an item. Most people think of recycling as paper, plastic bottles, glass, or metal, but recycling can be much more than that. In the City of Suffolk, batteries, for example, are just as easy to recycle as your typical household recycling. Although you cannot put them in your curbside container, the City of Suffolk offers many drop off sites to place your alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, 9V).
As interns for the City of Suffolk in the Public Works Department we will have the opportunity to explore different divisions throughout the summer. This week, while working with the Environmental Engineering division, we were able to learn the benefits of striving to achieve a clean, litter free community. This included learning about the world of battery recycling. Before this week, none of us knew that batteries could be recycled, much less the benefits that keeping batteries out of landfills provided. Although seemingly harmless, batteries contain heavy metals that have the possibility to contaminate our environment. To keep these heavy metals out of landfills and conserve resources, it is best to have batteries recycled. The Suffolk Clean Commission, or Keep Suffolk Beautiful, has placed battery recycling bins in various locations throughout the city including select libraries, public buildings and stores. The commissioners empty the batteries from these bins at least once a month and take them to a larger battery storage bin where it is picked up to be recycled once a year. For each of us, our families recycle normal household materials in our curbside container regularly, but now we can help with educating them on where to take our batteries for recycling as well.
So what do you do with your batteries? Do you keep them? Throw them away? The City of Suffolk makes battery recycling easy for citizens. Click here to see where your nearest battery recycling bins are located. To find out more about the Battery Recycling Program in Suffolk, contact the Litter Control Coordinator at [email protected].
The content of this blog was created by City of Suffolk Public Works interns.