The Pilot Knob Rotary Club in Denton is partnering with AP science students at Guyer High School to host a lithium-ion battery recycling drive next month.
“The use of lithium-ion batteries is increasing, not only as the electric vehicle industry is scaling, but also with the increasing use of these batteries in cell phones, laptops, tablets, power tools, electric toothbrushes, wireless headphones, vaping devices and any other rechargeable device with a lithium-ion battery,” the club said in a news release. “These rechargeable batteries contain minerals in limited supply, such as nickel, lithium and cobalt, many of which are mined in third world countries. Mining is not environmentally friendly, and these countries do not adhere to high environmental and safety standards (including child labor).Today, less than 17% of consumer lithium-ion batteries are recycled and many have ended up in landfills, causing fires and harmful environmental impacts.”
To help recycle these batteries and rechargeable devices safely, the club is working with about 120 AP environmental science students at Guyer to hold a recycling drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 13, ahead of Earth Day.
“Our goal is to develop awareness and a movement to ‘mine the junk drawers of America’ for rechargeable electronic devices,” the club said in a statement. “There isn’t a requirement to extract the battery from the gadget, just bring the entire product to be recycled. The recovery of the essential minerals will help ensure the security of American supply chains for electric vehicle batteries and the electric grid.”
Before bringing your device, make sure you’ve deleted all data removed the SIM card, and reset to factory settings. No cords or chargers are needed.
The collected lithium-ion batteries and rechargeable devices will be recycled by Redwood Materials, which can recover over 95% of the critical minerals and rare earth elements from these batteries.
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