Enviro Girl has long recycled her family’s worn-out batteries. She keeps an empty yogurt container in the cupboard next to screwdrivers and packages of AA and 9 volt and AAA batteries. When her children were younger, it seemed she was always prying open the back of a toy and replacing spent batteries. The hardware store in town collects used batteries for recycling, so Enviro Girl didn’t feel too terrible about the amount of batteries her family used and she felt virtuous keeping the heavy metals and chemicals out of the local landfill.
Until she realized she was buying AA batteries almost every month and recycling a tub full of batteries four times a year. Her digital camera was a particular battery pig. Something had to change.
Enviro Girl had seen rechargeable batteries—initially they were expensive and hard to find, but now even Energizer makes their own brand of rechargeable batteries and sells chargers that plug into regular wall outlets. Enviro Girl asked around, read some consumer reviews, and when she did the math it made sense to invest in her own.
She bought an Energizer recharge battery charger that works for AA and AAA batteries. When the batteries die, the charger plugs into a wall outlet and brings the batteries back to life again and again. Instead of installing 2 new AA batteries every 4 weeks (costing $26.00 a year), Enviro Girl purchased 2 new AA rechargeable batteries, 2 AAA batteries and a charger for $42.00. As she adds to her household’s inventory of rechargeable batteries, the savings will continue to add up. She figures if she gets even half of the “hundreds of uses” out of these new batteries, she’ll come out way ahead financially. She chose the Energizer brand because it’s sold at most retailers, including her favorite local hardware store, so it’ll be easy to buy more AA and AAA batteries as they’re needed.
When the rechargeable batteries die, she can still recycle them, but by buying fewer batteries, Enviro Girl uses less packaging waste and spends less money.
Solar or crank-powered flashlights, phones and cameras are still the ideal, and Enviro Girl always buys the renewable option when she can. She owns hand-powered flashlights and a solar-powered radio and calculator. But for battery-operated toys and appliances, Enviro Girl looks forward to a smaller ecological footprint through using her Energizer recharge batteries.
For more information on rechargeable batteries, head over to Green Batteries, a web site that gives price and product information on a range of rechargeable batteries and accessories for all kinds of uses–including laptops, solar ovens and converters.
Tell the Eco Women: are you using rechargeable batteries? What type? Are you satisfied with them?
I’m glad to hear that rechargeable battery options are improving. My family doesn’t use many batteries, but I feel like we need to switch from one-use to rechargeable.
How well do they work? We go through a lot of AA and AAA batteries for Amigo’s audio book options and his armband radio. If the rechargeable batteries are strong enough to drive a portable CD player or old-fashioned Walkman tape player, I’m in.
They worked REALLY well! The batteries have the same lifespan as regular ones–I put them I my digital camera the week before vacation and a week AFTER vacation they still have their power without any charging!