(ET) NiCd disposal

["harry landis" <hlandis hotmail com>]

A small factoid about disposing of used NiCads and other recheargeable 
batteries:
It is not well publicized, but it is my unsderstanding that when the US 
battery manufacturers and appliance makers saw the restrictions in 
Europe,they came to an arrangement with the US congress that if they came up 
with a self funded recycling program, the government would leave them alone. 
So they set up Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation  (www.rbrc.org/). 
Now I understand most all retailers of batteries or battery containing 
products (Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, etc) have a prepaid UPS cardboard box 
somewhere in the store where anyone can drop off any recheargeable battery 
(including lead-acid, up something like 6 lbs) and when the box is full, 
they send it to a recycler. The boxes and program are subsidized by the 
battery manufacturers. For bigger quantities, you can send them by your 
favorite motor freight carrier, and they will refund your freight charges. I 
used the program to help a friend get rid of about 1600 lbs of computer 
batteries. It worked fine.

Harry Landis