During the first day, we went door-to-door around the block. Many people had been keeping used batteries at home for the past year and were very enthusiastic that we came. Some of the batteries given to us were so old that they were corroded and started leaking chemicals! So we brought gloves and protection bags to keep ourselves safe.  We received more batteries from our elderly neighbors - one of the elderly households contributed almost ⅓ of the used batteries.  The second day we walked around the block again covering the remaining households. Some neighbors whom we had talked to the first day collected all their batteries and left them on the front porch in clear ziplock bags. ​

What we learned
​
After canvassing our neighborhood, I learned a few important things: 

• Some neighbors already practice safe battery handling by taping the battery ends and even recycle their used batteries regularly themselves.
• The people who could use our help the most are the senior citizens. They use lithium button batteries for hearing aids but have limited mobility to properly recycle the batteries themselves. 
• People were also interested in getting help recycling other e-waste such as printer cartridges and compact fluorescent bulbs. 

When collecting in the neighborhood, it is important to respect some neighbors' preference for privacy and no-solicitation signs. In this case, instead of knocking on the door, I left a 1MB flyer with links and contact information. 

Making flyers and promoting event
​
When going door to door, I came up with a concise ‘elevator pitch’ to quickly introduce the 1MB campaign: 

​As I went around, I carried a small, fireproof bag to store the batteries. On this bag, I taped the Teens Against E-waste title and TAE logo, so that when I introduced the organization, the neighbor could follow along and match up what I said with a visual. In addition to the short pitch, I left flyers for the neighbors who weren’t home or didn’t want to be solicited. The flyer was made to be short and right to the point. If you would like an editable file for your own event, please feel free to contact tae.svintl@gmail.com! 

End results and testimonials
​
We ended up collecting 712 used batteries in 2 days! After experiencing the enthusiastic responses from neighbors and seeing the impact of my action, I am excited and confident to do more. Based on the sharing from other Branch leaders and my own learning, I am already planning the next collection event at a local senior apartment facility!  

Preparation Checklist

Following is a short checklist to help you prepare for a neighborhood battery collection and recycling event:

• Prepare a collection bag  and a 1MB flyer
• Send a notification to a neighborhood mailing list or social media group
• Prepare a short "elevator" pitch about the 1MB campaign
• Confirm with a local recycling center or a local business accepting used household batteries for recycling, and plan to drop off batteries on the same day 
• Bring protective gloves and packing tape for safe handling of used batteries

​To optimize the results, we decided to host a contest on two different levels, the cluster and individual levels. In our school, students are divided into homerooms (we refer to these as “clusters” ). With the help of 10 volunteers, a battery collection bucket was distributed to each of the 39 clusters we had. (You can use eco-friendly DIY battery collection boxes too.) I made a Google Sheet to keep track of where the buckets were delivered by whom (so I could remind the same volunteers to collect the buckets back at the end of the event two weeks later). One instance, when a teacher saw the collection bucket, she exclaimed, "I'm so thrilled you guys are doing this event! I have a lot of old batteries, but I don't know what to do with them." 

Incentives and funds 

As an incentive, we promised a pizza party to the cluster that donated the most batteries and boba milk tea to the top 20 students! Fortunately, our club had the funds to cover that, but it took me a little while to figure out the reimbursement procedure and then collect four signatures (from club treasurer, club advisor, ASB activities director, and assistant principal) as required on the pre-approval form. I had also thought about hosting a boba fundraising event if our club had not had the funds, for your reference. 
​
Making flyers and promoting the event via various means

Below is the flyer I made to promote the event. It was sent in the school's weekly newsletters (with some introductory paragraphs I attached below the flyer), broadcasted in the school’s live TV announcements repetitively during the homeroom period, and could also be seen posted anywhere on the campus and left in the front office to pass to the visitors. I also sent the flyer to the principal, who then forwarded it to all the cluster teachers. One morning some of us also passed 140 flyers to the parents who dropped their kids in the school parking lot (with an adult’s supervision), which turned out very effective because parents usually knew better than their children where the used batteries were hoarded at home. If you would like an editable file for your own event, please feel free to contact us using the Contact Us form! 

An alternate flyer (shown below in landscape) was also made to put on each of the battery collection buckets to be distributed to the homerooms, just as a refresher and visual reminder throughout the two week event. Of course, there could be misunderstandings, but I believe that this flyer helped clear up a lot of them. Again, contact us for its editable file. 

One important thing I learned was to pre-write the room number on the flyer attached to the bucket (e.g. on the line next to “cluster room #” in the sample flyer below) that allowed us to keep track of the bucket distribution and collection status, as well as what cluster room would win the prize. 

End results and testimonials

The end result was stunning. Students brought in bags after bags of used batteries. One teacher told us that since she was not a cluster teacher and didn't have a battery bucket in her room, a student went to her to ask for her used batteries. Other students heard about it and began to ask other teachers to donate batteries in the students’ names. The front office lady also told us that the policeman patrolling our school also brought old batteries from his home to participate. We ended up collecting 12,288 used batteries in total and felt so empowered. I had never seen so many batteries in different shapes and colors. All 700+ pounds of them would have been dumped into the landfills and contaminated our land and water if there weren’t our collection event. 

When I initially gave the bucket to Ellie at Luxaira, she told me that it was uncommon for residents to pass through the front office and there was no newsletter or way to get word of the battery bucket out. However, due to the usefulness of the bucket, the residents that did hear about the bucket were extremely excited to donate, and soon, the bucket was filled!        
              
A similar story occurred at The Meadows Senior Community, where in less than three weeks, the bucket was completely full with more batteries in a plastic bag. When I went to pick up those batteries, I ran into an elderly woman. She told me, “This is very thoughtful and good for the environment. I donated some too!” 

Upon consulting the leasing managers of some of these locations, I heard many positive effects collecting batteries had. For example, a location that was aware of these issues and eco friendly told me that it was a huge inconvenience for their maintenance guys to drive back and forth, so they were glad that we had this idea.

Many times, residents and residential homes want to help the environment, but it isn’t worth the long journey, so they just keep or throw away their batteries which poses its own dangers. 

This is why, after hearing community members supporting this project, I felt really proud to be doing something to help the community and the environment, and I was even more excited to reach our goal of 1 million batteries. ​

by Amelia Halverson, Ottawa, Canada

If you are planning a battery collection event in your school or at your community, collection boxes would come handy.  In some regions, it is possible to ask for official battery collection bins from hazardous waste collection centers or recycling centres.  Do not worry if official bins are not available.  You can easily make your own using shipping boxes, shoeboxes, and any other cardboard boxes. This is a great way to reuse items that you don’t need anymore, and give them another life!

QUICK TEMPLATE TUTORIAL
​
When you follow the link you will arrive at this page
Large Poster Link - Edit & Print

Another manager (pictured above) was thrilled to see me come in and give her a battery bucket, saying, “Sorry that I don't have a golden carpet for you right now!” She kindly offered to talk to the managers of another two senior apartments so that they may combine all batteries for us to pick up in just one trip. Ten days later, she texted me saying "we have a Lotta batteries for you!" She had added "Collecting Old Batteries … drop items off in the office" in their newsletter. Many seniors dropped them off (totally 861 batteries!) outside her office when she was out, and she didn’t even know who did it. Counting these batteries and seeing their careful preparations (e.g. batteries nicely packaged, their terminals carefully taped to prevent fires), I was so happy that I was able to help them accomplish their recycling endeavors.

​Visit senior apartments near your home and tell the manager that you can help collect used batteries for recycling. Leave a bucket and your phone number so that they can text you for pick up when the bucket is full.