BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — The industry's e-bike battery recycling program has collected and recycled more than 43,000 pounds of batteries since the program began in November 2021.
Led by Call2Recycle and endorsed by PeopleForBikes, the program has more than 1,900 retailers participating after completing training to become a certified collection sites. Fifty-four e-bike manufacturers fund the program.
"This program is committed to offering safe, responsible, and compliant battery management for the bike industry," said Linda Gabor, Call2Recycle's executive vice president of external relations. "We want to ensure that e-bike batteries are safely returned to the proper recycling stream rather than ending up in landfills and make it easy for riders nationwide to conveniently recycle their e-bike batteries."
Retailers interested in becoming an authorized recycling drop-off location or manufacturers interested in supporting the program can go to call2recycle.org/e-bikes or email ebikeprogram@call2recycle.org.
"Our team couldn't be more proud to endorse this program," said Jocelyn Vande Velde, Bosch North America's head of marketing. "As a leader in electric bike battery and motor manufacturing, we recognize the importance of end-of-life product management and this program is exactly what's needed for our industry to become more of a circular economy. We look forward to seeing the program continue to grow."
With 130 million e-bikes expected to be sold globally between 2020 and 2023, keeping lithium-ion batteries out of landfills will require a broad awareness campaign to educate riders on how to safely and responsibly recycle their batteries, according to PeopleForBikes and Call2Recycle. They have developed a consumer-facing campaign promoting the program, Hungry for Batteries. The "playfully serious website" introduces riders to a hungry monster named Watts, who has an insatiable appetite for e-bike batteries. To help illustrate the importance of teamwork and industry-wide collaboration, Watts now has a new friend named Rey with a mission of removing e-bike batteries from waste streams.
"Rey is the next development in our efforts to reach more people with our Hungry for Batteries messaging," said Jose Maldonado, PeopleForBikes' chief marketing officer. "Rey's character helps illustrate the coordinated effort it takes to get electric bicycle batteries recycled. We believe the relationship between Watts and Rey will help keep the messaging light and fun while also articulating the importance of this industry-wide effort."
If you are a participating brand or retailer and need access to the Hungry for Batteries toolkit, email ebikeprogram@call2recycle.org.
