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Private | |
Industry | Sustainable energy |
Founded | 2011 |
Headquarters | Tacoma, Washington , USA |
Key people | Shem Zakem, President |
Products | [reusable batteries and Swap Stations] |
Website |
BETTERY Inc. was a privately held company based in Portland, Oregon. It provided a retail store-based reusable battery exchange service to consumers. BETTERY kiosks or "Swap Stations" allow consumers to buy ready to use reusable AA or AAA batteries that can be used just like any other single use battery. Once drained, the batteries can be swapped for a fully tested and charged replacement. The company previously had placed five kiosks at Whole Foods Market locations in the Pacific Northwest and placed five additional kiosks at Whole Foods and Safeway stores in Seattle and Portland. The BETTERY brand was sold in 2014 to Green Box Batteries, LLC, a Tacoma, WA privately held company. Green Box Batteries, LLC has re-launched the BETTERY brand with a focus on bringing batteries to the world of subscription services much like Netflix did for DVD rentals. [1]
Whole Foods Market Inc. is an American supermarket chain which exclusively sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners. Being the only USDA Certified Organic grocer in the United States, the chain is popularly known for its organic selections and high prices. Whole Foods has 497 stores in North America and the United Kingdom as of March 4, 2019.
Batteries account for >1% of waste poundage, but 88% of mercury, 52% of cadmium, and in total they account for 50-70% of all heavy metal contaminants in landfills including Zinc, Manganese, Lead, Nickel, Cobalt, Cadmium, Arsenic, and Mercury depending on the battery chemistry mix in a given landfill location. By using a reusable battery swap service, battery use has up to 30 times less impact on air pollutants (such as Carbon, Nitrogen, and Methane gases) than disposable batteries. That is equivalent to driving a car 1,243 miles less each year per consumer.
By making it easier for consumers to use reusable battery technology, The BETTERY brand reduces the volume of batteries that are thrown away in the U.S. every year. Approximately 90 percent of portable batteries manufactured in the US are alkaline dry cells with a global annual production exceeding 10 billion units. Today, the majority of these batteries end up in landfills. [2]
Each BETTERY reusable battery can be swapped and reused up to a thousand times before it is recycled back into the manufacturing stream. [3] Consumers can use the BETTERY kiosk to drop off traditional single-use batteries, where they will be recycled. The contents of recycled batteries can be salvaged to make metal and other raw materials. [4]
Founded in 2011 with the mission to reduce waste by utilizing the latest advancements in reusable battery technology, BETTERY belongs to the movement of companies with sustainability at its core. With a veteran team of executives and advisers from major battery, kiosk and high tech companies, BETTERY is poised to reinvent the portable power industry.
The nickel–cadmium battery is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes. The abbreviation NiCd is derived from the chemical symbols of nickel (Ni) and cadmium (Cd): the abbreviation NiCad is a registered trademark of SAFT Corporation, although this brand name is commonly used to describe all Ni–Cd batteries.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.
An alkaline battery is a type of primary battery which derives its energy from the reaction between zinc metal and manganese dioxide.
Computer recycling, electronic recycling or e-waste recycling is the disassembly and separation of components and raw materials of waste electronics. Although the procedures of re-use, donation and repair are not strictly recycling, they are other common sustainable ways to dispose of IT waste.
A zinc–carbon battery is a dry cell primary battery that delivers about 1.5 volts of direct current from the electrochemical reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide. A carbon rod collects the current from the manganese dioxide electrode, giving the name to the cell. A dry cell is usually made from zinc which serves as the anode with a negative electrical polarity, while the inert carbon rod is the positive electrical pole cathode. General purpose batteries may use an aqueous paste of ammonium chloride as electrolyte, possibly mixed with some zinc chloride solution. Heavy duty types use a paste primarily composed of zinc chloride.
Glass recycling is the processing of waste glass into usable products. Glass that is crushed and ready to be remelted is called cullet. There are two types of cullet: internal and external. Internal cullet is composed of defective products detected and rejected by a quality control process during the industrial process of glass manufacturing, transition phases of product changes and production offcuts. External cullet is the waste glass that is collected and/or reprocessed with the purpose of recycling. External cullet is classified as waste. When using the word "cullet" in the context of end-of-waste it will always refer to external cullet.
Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution.
A rechargeable alkaline battery, also known as alkaline rechargeable or rechargeable alkaline manganese (RAM), is a type of alkaline battery that is capable of recharging for repeated use. The first generation rechargeable alkaline batteries were introduced by Union Carbide and Mallory in the early 1970s. Several patents were introduced after Union Carbide's product discontinuation and eventually, in 1986, Battery Technologies Inc of Canada was founded to commercially develop a 2nd generation product based on those patents. Their first product to be licensed out and sold commercially was to Rayovac under the trademark "Renewal". The next year, "Pure Energy" batteries were released by Pure Energy. After reformulating the Renewals to be mercury free in 1995, subsequent licensed RAM alkalines were mercury free and included ALCAVA, AccuCell, Grandcell and EnviroCell. Subsequent patent and advancements in technology have been introduced. The formats include AAA, AA, C, D, and snap-on 9-volt batteries. Rechargeable alkaline batteries are manufactured fully charged and have the ability to hold their charge for years, longer than NiCd and NiMH batteries, which self-discharge. Rechargeable alkaline batteries can have a high recharging efficiency and have less environmental impact than disposable cells.
The Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repealing Directive 91/157/EEC, commonly known as the Battery Directive, regulates the manufacture and disposal of batteries in the European Union with the aim of "improving the environmental performance of batteries and accumulators".
This article examines recycling in the United States. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the US was 34.6%. Since there is no national law that mandates recycling, state and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials.
Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited is a Hong Kong-based multinational battery manufacturer established in 1964. They are listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1984. The Group has built few brand names for its major product categories, such as GP batteries, KEF premium consumer speakers and CELESTION professional speaker drivers.
Battery recycling is a recycling activity that aims to reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Batteries contain a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals and disposing of them by the same process as regular trash has raised concerns over soil contamination and water pollution.
The End of Life Vehicles Directive is a Directive of the European Union addressing the end of life for automotive products. Every year, motor vehicles which have reached the end of their useful lives create between 8 and 9 million tonnes of waste in the European Union. In 1997, the European Commission adopted a Proposal for a Directive to tackle this problem.
A battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights, smartphones, and electric cars. When a battery is supplying electric power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negative terminal is the anode. The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons that will flow through an external electric circuit to the positive terminal. When a battery is connected to an external electric load, a redox reaction converts high-energy reactants to lower-energy products, and the free-energy difference is delivered to the external circuit as electrical energy. Historically the term "battery" specifically referred to a device composed of multiple cells, however the usage has evolved to include devices composed of a single cell.
Electronic waste or e-waste in the United States refers to electronic products that have reached the end of their operable lives, and the United States is beginning to address its waste problems with regulations at a state and federal level. Used electronics are the quickest-growing source of waste and can have serious health impacts. The United States is the world leader in producing the most e-waste, followed closely by China; both countries domestically recycle and export e-waste. Only recently has the United States begun to make an effort to start regulating where e-waste goes and how it is disposed of.
Products made from a variety of materials can be recycled using a number of processes.
An N battery is a standard size of dry cell battery. An N battery is cylindrical with electrical contacts on each end; the positive end has a nub or bump on the top. The battery has a length of 30.2 mm and a diameter of 12.0 mm, and is approximately three-fifths the length of a AA battery.
Mobile phones can be recycled at the end of their life.
As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world, officially with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, with another study estimating 7.1 pounds (3.2 kg) per capita per day. Fifty five percent of this waste is contributed as residential garbage, while the remaining forty five percent of waste in the U.S.'s ‘waste stream' comes from manufacturing, retailing, and commercial trade in the U.S. economy. Based on proprietary data released to the public, Nevada was named America's "Most Wasteful State" for the years 2005-2010; where each resident threw away over 14 pounds of non-recycled, unreused items, often ending up into landfills and incinerators per day, eight pounds over the national state daily throwaway average. "Wasteful" states Michigan, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oregon as well as Washington also dominated the list's 5-year period.