By Wendy Gabriel

GREEN TIP:  Sooner or later all batteries lose their power.  When they do, remember to recycle them.   

According to Waste Management, more than 3 billion dry-cell batteries are purchased in the U.S. annually, about three dozen per household.  These batteries contain many potentially hazardous compounds such as mercury, cadmium, nickel, lead, zinc, silver, manganese and alkalines.  The compounds, and the plastics used to make the batteries, can all be recycled.  If they’re not recycled, these hazardous compounds could end up polluting our soil and groundwater. 

At our house, we have a box in our basement where all the dead batteries go to live temporarily.  They remain in the box until our community’s twice-yearly recycling day.  On that day, they (and their old cell phones, broken electronics and CFL friends) get to go to the recycling center free of charge to connect with others just like them. 

The Earth 911 website includes an easy-to-use locator for battery recycling sites. 

So, remember the My Green Side moto:  reduce, reuse and recycle.  I know it’s not original, but it’s catchy!