Throwing household batteries in the trash is now illegal as well as environmentally irresponsible, but I cannot find anywhere in Berkeley, Albany or El Cerrito that will take them. Does anyone know of a place other than the toxics site in Oakland??

Collection program intended to energize battery recycling

By Chris Treadway CONTRA COSTA TIMES

It has been a year since a state law made it illegal to put batteries
-- those Energizers, Duracells, Ray-O-Vacs and the like -- in the
household garbage.

And complying with the new law hasn't been simple.

The only option for lawfully disposing of batteries in West Contra
Costa has been to take them to the Household Hazardous Waste
Collection Facility -- in an area of Richmond remote from much of the
greater community -- and most people have instead continued to dump
their batteries in the traditional manner, legal or not.

But more options are now available under a new program intended to
make it easier to safely and legally turn in batteries for
recycling. Buckets for depositing spent household batteries are now in
place at the El Cerrito Recycling Center, the Walgreens store in El
Cerrito and the Staples office supply locations in El Cerrito and
Pinole.

New locations around West County communities will be coming soon,
including buckets at city offices and community centers, said Mersina
Purlantov, programs manager for the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste
Management Authority.

Longs Drugs, Radio Shack and more Walgreens locations in West County
are expected to participate, she said.

Recycling to this point has been ''a drop in the bucket,'' Purlantov
said, but that could change if people get accustomed to dropping
batteries in collection buckets.

Although the hazardous waste facility collected 9,500 pounds of
batteries for recycling in 2005-06, all brought in by residential
users, that was only a fraction of the area's estimated battery
consumption, Purlantov said.

A 2002 waste board study projected that the West Contra Costa area
alone would consume more than 4.1 million batteries in 2006, Purlantov
said, which translates to more than 419,000 pounds.

''That's why we got a grant to set up places to drop off batteries,''
she said.

The $156,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management
Board is for battery collection and education.

El Cerrito was chosen as the main starting place for the program
because it has a well-established recycling program and a history of
strong participation in such efforts. The recycling center began
accepting batteries shortly after the beginning of the year, said
Alexis Petru, a waste prevention specialist for the city.

People from any city can drop off batteries at the center, but it is
for residential users only, not businesses, Petru said.

''We can't be accepting huge pickup truck loads of batteries from
businesses,'' Petru said.

Batteries diverted from the garbage dump not only provide a chance for
salvaging metals and other materials, they also keep corrosive and
toxic elements from entering the soil and groundwater.

''All of it will be recycled,'' Purlantov said, adding that a postcard
mailing will go out to West County households once enough drop-off
locations are finalized.


WHERE TO RECYCLE

The West County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, 101
Pittsburg Ave. in Richmond, is open from 9 a.m. to noon and 12:30
p.m. to 4 p.m. each Thursday and Friday and the first Saturday of each
month. For more details, visit www.recyclemore.org.

The El Cerrito Recycling Center, 7501 Schmidt Lane, is open from 8
a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4:45
p.m. Saturday and Sunday (closed holidays). For more details, visit
www.ecrecycling.org.