Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

 
 
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All that I can say is - wow. Last month I visited two incredibly motivated groups of seniors at Casa Loma Retirement Centre and Comox Valley Senior's Village in Courtenay.

When I walked into the door at Casa Loma I was immediately approached by two extremely motivated women wondering how to properly recycle a mountain of cassette tapes they had accumulated. I told them that the cases could be recycled right away but the tapes would have to be separated from the plastic before we could take care of those. "That's all we needed to hear," they said and pealed off like a pair of roadrunners to accomplish the task. I asked them if they wanted to stick around for the presentation but they were totally on fire, motivated; "no time for that," they said. Hahaha. Awesome.

In the following weeks I visited Comox Valley Senior's Village and shared some motivating stories related to water efficiency, community development and consumerism. I was incredibly touched by the same genuine spirit to make change in the community. One woman asked about batteries. "What should we do with all of the hearing aid batteries that are floating around here? Everyone just tosses them in the garbage?" I have never been asked that particular question before or been faced with a hearing aid battery dilemma. Who knew, but batteries are one of the most dangerous forms of waste at the Senior's Village. I encouraged the group to get an icecream bucket or margarine container and collect batteries around the massive building. I could then collect the bucket and take it to the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre for them so they could be dealt with safely. They were jacked - "a mission!"  One guy that was asleep in a chair woke up with all the excitement. We finished the discussion with a giant group hug.  What a great day.

If you have batteries be sure to keep them separate from your household waste and collect them in a special container for proper disposal. Many of the Middle and Secondary Schools now have battery collection bins that are filled and taken to the landfill for incineration on the mainland. If your school does not have a collection bin, start one - a blue box with a sign is good enough. For more information about battery or related presentations about solid waste and water contact powerofr@gmail.com Have an incredible day.
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It’s amazing how many batteries we actually use. It seems like everything these days is powered by a battery of some kind. Laptops, ipods, cameras, toys, flashlights, and watches are used in many households. The scary thing is that these amazing technologies, that fuel our appetite for batteries, are filling our landfills with poisons.  I’m not saying stop using electronics but I am saying let’s make sure that the dead batteries that run our gadgets stay far away from the landfill.

I found a few old batteries in my garage. You’ve likely seen old batteries before but it only adds to my point of being diligent with your disposal practices. Batteries contain different chemicals that can cause explosions and even burn holes in your skin. That’s not pretty. The batteries here in the picture are the most common sizes. Billions of them enter landfills each year around the world. I don’t know about you but that freaks me right out.
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When a battery goes in the landfill it doesn’t take long before its metal casing gets crushed by heavy objects, it rusts in the rain, and then corrodes enough to release the toxic paste inside. The toxic paste dissolves into rain and ground water. Once the poison is in the water, animals and humans might drink it and contract cancer or sickness from the dissolved poison crystals.  

Collect your old batteries in a cardboard box and make sure that they don’t get thrown into the landfill. If you go to a school that has a battery collection program make sure you support it. Tell your friends and family about the dangers of batteries in the landfill. Once your battery box is full or every six months, take the dead batteries to your local Waste Management Centre recycling area. You don’t want to have batteries like the ones in the picture above lying around your home.

I’m really proud of all the schools that are participating in this program. Keep up the great work!
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