There are many benefits to recycling batteries and lamps

1) Removes Long Term Concerns On Environmental Liability

Recycling ensures hazardous materials are reused and not simply stored with the potential to cause problems in years to come.

2) Improves Human Health and the Environment

Batteries may contain caustic or acidic liquids, and toxic or hazardous metals such as mercury, cadmium, nickel and lead.

Fluorescent lamps and High Intensity Discharge lamps contain mercury. Mercury is released into the air upon breaking and mercury also enters the environment through leaching at garbage dumps.

3) Waste Reduction

Many cities and regions have policies to slow down the rate of garbage flowing to the dumps. For example, the Greater Vancouver Regional District is working toward reducing per capita waste disposal by 50 per cent by the year 2010, a target set by the Province.

4) ISO compliance

ISO 14000 is a set of generic standards being developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which provides any company, regardless of size or type, with a structure for managing environmental impacts. The documents cover a range of environmental disciplines, including environmental management systems, auditing, environmental performance evaluation, labelling, life-cycle assessment, and environmental aspects in product standards.

The standards themselves do not replace environmental performance goals as stated in Canadian federal and provincial regulations. Rather, they encourage companies to set about an international reference framework for achieving continuous environmental improvement.

What standards have been published so far?

The first two standards to have been published are ISO 14001, Environmental management systems - Specification with guidance for use, and ISO 14004, Environmental management systems - General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques. These two documents are the pillars of the ISO 14000 series since they specify the requirements against which a company's environmental management system (EMS) is to be judged.

5) Company policy

Many companies incorporate their views, actions, and undertakings directly in corporate policy documents.

6) Exhibits Environmental Leadership

Take BC Hydro, a provincial Crown Corporation, for example. Here's part of what they have to say on their web site: "BC Hydro is committed to producing and delivering electricity in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, but what evidence is there that we live up to that pledge? Environmental considerations are part of our daily operations." We are proud to have BC Hydro as a Nu-Life customer.

7) Builds Better Community Relations

The University of British Columbia, another Nu-Life customer provides a good example. "The Waste Reduction Program orchestrates campus and residence recycling activities and provides education and information on waste reduction to the campus community. Our role is to instigate, coordinate and promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling activities at the University of British Columbia."