Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

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.

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!

Carihi High in Campbell River is setting goals of zero-waste in 2010 and taking action to make it happen. Today I visited several classrooms to deliver one hour presentations about the globalization of garbage and local solutions to rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle our way to a cleaner planet. It was an inspiring day today because so many positive initiatives happened in such a short amount of time.

After each presentation students had questions but more importantly they were taking action to implement a full blown composting program at the school before the end of the day. To help things along I brought along some equipment to make it happen. The Power Of R and Comox Strathcona Waste Management donated two Earth Machine composters, two battery collection bins and twenty classroom compost buckets to the school.  By the end of lunch hour the composters were installed, the buckets were distributed and the principal’s door was being knocked on by students to report what they were up to. I didn’t even know it was happening, it just did.

I spoke The Green Team Environment Club over lunch hour about actions of other schools on Vancouver Island and ways to connect with those schools to strengthen their own programs. The club remarkably tripled its membership today and hopefully that enthusiasm will continue to bring Carihi High closer to its goals. The school is setting a good example for other schools, businesses, and households in Campbell River. I’ve seen this positive momentum build before in past projects and I can guarantee that Carihi High will change the environmental legacy of Campbell River in 2010.

Before the Christmas break at their annual Turkey Dinner Night the Green Team will announce its initiative to the rest of the school. Over one hundred students are already moving the project forward for school wide recycling, composting and battery collection. The Green Team will also meet with Highland Secondary’s Eco Team in 2010 to collaborate their efforts and share strategies. I’ll work with these clubs to help prepare them for presenting to other secondary, middle and elementary schools in SD71 and SD72. By the end of the New Year hopefully every school will be involved in this incredible Power Of R movement.

Here is what the Green Team teacher sponsor Wayne Demerse had to say about the day:

Get your school involved in The Power Of R movement by booking a presentation or workshop by emailing me at powerofr@gmail.com today.