The District 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee is launching a very ambitious Rotary campaign to recycle lithium ion batteries throughout our District. These are batteries that come in cell phones, laptops, tablets, power drills, e-bikes, electric vehicles and anything that is rechargeable. Lithium-ion batteries are a phenomenal technology that can propel us into a clean energy and transportation future. All lithium-ion batteries are made up of varying amounts of critical minerals like cobalt, nickel, copper and lithium. What is incredible is these minerals can be recycled almost infinitely.
Yet, today, 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. Recycling creates a tremendous opportunity to “urban mine” old products and build new, sustainable product while offsetting our need to terrestrially mine. Old devices can become new ones without any tradeoffs to performance or battery life. And lithium-ion battery demand is projected to increase by 500% in the coming years.
Last year District 5030 launched the first lithium battery recycling campaign in the world. Since 2022, Rotary clubs in the United States have been collaborating 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.
On Earth Day, April 22, 2023, the Rotary District 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee (D5030 ESC), Chaired by Erv DeSmet, led the planning of the first Rotary District-wide Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Event and the FIRST in the State of Washington. The planning committee included Erv DeSmet (D5030), Seema Balwami and Cathy Gibson (Seattle 4), Sonja Koch (Redwood Materials), and Maria Norena (Bellevue Rotary).
To extend the geographic reach of the event, in addition to the Bellevue Downtown Park, the planning committee worked with other Rotary Clubs in District 5030 to hold a satellite Lithium-Ion Battery recycling site in the Lake Forest Park Towne Center. This was accomplished by engaging participation from two additional clubs: Lake Forest Park Rotary Club environmental committee led by Linda Holman and the Environmental Rotary Club of Puget Sound led by Kimberly Paterson and Janiece Hoggatt.
This year’s campaign This year RD 5030 ESC has already established a Rotary Task Force to build on last year’s success and intends to broaden the geographical reach and create a major media blitz to engage the general public. The hope is to expand involvement to as many Rotary Clubs as possible in District 5030. The recycling drop off date will be Saturday, April 20, 2024. District Governor Kaj has endorsed this major undertaking, “this is initiative is an excellent example for making your impact felt in supporting our environment with a sustainable approach anyone can engage with. Too often we sense the challenges are beyond our grasp, but with battery recycling we can secure real victories to protect the environment around us. We look forward to anyone joining our Rotary team to make a difference through action.” We will again be collaborating with Redwood Materials. There will hopefully be drop off sites in Bellevue, Lake Forest Park, U Village and south Seattle. We will know in the next month where all the sites will be located.
Our hope is to enlist Rotarians from every club in our District to get the word out, reach out to their networks and build huge momentum for this event on April 20. This will also be an opportunity to showcase Rotary and feature Rotary prominently at all sites. We are planning strategies to recruit mainstream media—print, TV and radio – along with social media to get visibility for this event and also Rotary. And hopefully get the media out to the pickup sites.
Our Task Force includes the following: Maria Claudia Norena (Bellevue Rotary), Erv DeSmet (Woodinville), Janiece Hoggat (Environmental Rotary Club of Puget Sound), Cathy Gibson (Seattle 4), Linda Holman (Lake Forest Park), Sally Porter Smith (University District), Sonja Koch (Redwood Materials), Nikki Bashaw and Audrey Griffits (Seattle University Rotaract Club—we are grateful to have Rotaractors involved!!) and Dave Spicer, Chair (University District).
If you are interested in being involved with this very dynamic campaign, please contact Dave Spicer at dspicer@davespicerlaw.com
Dave Spicer and Maria Norena, District 5030 Environmental Sustainability Committee.
