On Saturday, April 20, 2024, Rotarians from around Puget Sound and RD 5030 celebrated Earth Day (the first Earth Day was in 1970). Since November 2023, several Rotarians have been meeting as part of the Task Force to make Saturday, April 20, a significant day for collecting lithium and alkaline batteries and diverting them from the garbage heap.
In particular, lithium batteries come in cell phones, laptops, tablets, power drills, e-bikes, electric vehicles, and anything rechargeable. Lithium-ion batteries are a phenomenal technology that can propel us into a clean energy and transportation future. Batteries contain cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel. Yet, only 17 percent of e-waste and less than 5 percent of lithium-ion battery-containing devices get recycled. The overwhelming majority of these devices end up in landfills with a permanent and detrimental environmental impact. Recycling creates a tremendous opportunity to “urban mine” old products and build new, sustainable products while offsetting our need to mine terrestrially.
In April 2023, District 5030 and lead club Bellevue Rotary launched the first Districtwide Rotary lithium battery recycling campaign. Since 2022, Rotary clubs in the United States have collaborated with Redwood Materials, the first U.S.-based battery recycling plant to host collection drives, yielding tens of thousands of pounds of cell phones, laptops, power drills, and other rechargeable electronics.
This year, the RD 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee sought to build on last year’s success and significantly broadened the geographical reach of Rotary and our recycling campaign. District Governor Kaj endorsed this major undertaking as a District-wide project. Once again, we partnered with Redwood Materials.
On April 20, we had Rotarians at ten pick-up sites at these locations:
| Goodwill in Renton Highlands | Enumclaw/The Use Again Store |
| Goodwill at Dearborn/Seattle | Kent/Edline-Yahn and Covington Chapel |
| West Seattle/American Legion | Lake Forest Park/Town Center |
| University Village/QFC | Bellevue/Downtown Park |
| Ballard/Fred Meyer | St. Joseph Church and School/Seattle |
The collection of lithium and alkaline batteries, plus devices like cell phones and tablets, was between 10-3 pm. Several sites had solid turnouts and collected many batteries: Bellevue, Enumclaw, Goodwill/Dearborn, Kent, and St. Joes were the most active.
See link for our April 20 event https://app.frame.io/presentations/025d1314-55f1-41e0-82f0-393e35caee7f
The RD 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee is analyzing the outcomes and the determinants of success for the whole program and each collection site. The analysis will help refine the model and improve outcomes for future campaigns.
The Task Force members who made this such a successful District project included Rotarians from twelve Rotary Clubs, Rotaractors from Seattle University, and a representative from Redwood Materials
| Lori Church, Renton | Nancy Merrill, Enumclaw |
| Erv Desmet, Woodinville | Maria Claudia Norena, Bellevue |
| Cathy Gibson, Seattle 4 | Jorge Restrepo, Ballard |
| Janiece Hoggatt, Rotary Environmental Club of Puget Sound | Sally Porter Smith, University District |
| Linda Holman, Lake Forest Park | Dave Spicer, University District |
| Keith Hughes, West Seattle | Phillip Thompson, Emerald City |
| Sonja Koch, Redwood Materials | Nikki Bashaw, Seattle University (Rotaract) |
| Robert Linder, Edmonds | Audrey Griffitts, Seattle University (Rotaract) |
| Paul Mathew, Edmonds |
Rotarians throughout our Rotary District came together for a worthwhile day of service and camaraderie and helped Planet Earth in the process.
Dave Spicer – Chair, District 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee
