"Weird Eco Habit" Contest Finalist: Battery Drop
by Sean Fisher, Cincinnati, Ohio on 11.30.05
Walking through the streets of New York city, Dave Schmetterer sees a lot of litter - and it drives him absolutely crazy. Realizing he does not have the time to rid the city of all of this litter, Dave focuses his efforts on picking up as much of one type of litter as possible: batteries. Dave has great reasoning for concentrating on battery collection, "For those who don't know, disposable batteries are made of materials which can be captured and reused, and are mostly stainless steel. An awful lots of good material to be tossing in the trash. Rechargables can be incredibly toxic, as are older batteries that contain mercury. They shouldn't come near a landfill."
After he has collected then takes the batteries back home with him to the Princeton, New Jersey area and recycles them. Dave has even gone so far as to start formulating a program for battery recycling called "Battery Drop". Although Battery Drop remains in its infancy, he believes it has the potential to make a difference. "No matter what car they drive, lifestyle they lead, everyone can be a green superhero and nobody should be made to feel like an Ecovillain (unless they really are breaking the law). And once we get people feeling good about being green (instead of bad about being.. not green) they'll stay green."
All this week, TreeHugger is highlighting finalists for our "Weird Eco Habits" contest sponsored by Greenloop. Make sure to vote for your favorite "weird" habit starting this Friday
Is there a link to any kind of website for Dave Schmetterer efforts?
Funny I do the same thing, coins and batteries i find in parking lots are always picked up. Nice to know im not the only "weirdo" out there.
Alexis,
Hi! I'm the "wierdo" in the post. I own the domain for batterydrop.org/com/net, but no website yet. Just a blurb on my idea.
You can email me at batterydrop@yahoo.com
Thanks for the interest!
Dave
Speaking of battery drops, IKEA has two bins in its stores in which to put used disposable batteries and used compact fluorescent light bulbs. At my local IKEA (Covina, CA), it's right by the area for picking up large furniture after you've bought it.