February 15, 2024
Imagine a world without the energy storage capacity of lead batteries. Without lead batteries to help power our cars, trucks and public transportation, we’d be a lot less mobile. Without lead batteries to provide critical backup power to data centers, our information would be less secure. Without lead batteries helping power our healthcare, public safety and defense systems, we’d all be less safe.
With applications in nearly every industry imaginable, lead batteries are essential to our everyday life. They are also the most recycled consumer product in the United States, with an astonishing 99% of spent batteries collected and recycled. Using highly efficient recovery processes, domestic recyclers transform spent batteries back into valuable raw materials that are used to manufacture new batteries.
As a direct result of the hard work of our employees, lead battery recyclers prevent more than 160 million lead batteries from reaching landfills each year. Their work is crucial to the success of a circular economy and sustainable energy storage. Which is why on National Battery Day, February 18, the lead battery recycling industry is sharing the important work we do to protect their health and safety each and every day.
As an industry, lead battery recyclers are committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we live and work. Our employees do important jobs in sometimes demanding environments, which is why we comply with the most stringent environmental, health and safety standards in the world.
ABR member companies go one step further by continuously working to ensure their operations not only meet but exceed these standards. This includes investing in robust job safety and on-site hygiene programs, conducting comprehensive health and safety training, employing sophisticated safety equipment and environmental controls, and conducting regular monitoring to ensure these efforts continue to be effective.
Watch our new Employee Health and Safety video to hear directly from industry employees and learn more about the measures lead battery recyclers take to ensure their health and safety.
Ensuring a safe work environment is a collective endeavor that requires the cooperation and dedication of both employers and employees. From the moment our employees step into our facilities, their safety becomes our shared responsibility. Lead battery recyclers are committed to fostering a culture of safety, continuously improving safety protocols, procedures and equipment to mitigate hazards and prevent injuries.
Our top priority will always be the safety and health of our employees. By working together and embracing a culture of safety, we are not only protecting our workforce but also strengthening our communities and building a more sustainable future.
Visit our Employee Safety page to learn more about how the lead battery industry is working together to ensure the health and safety of our employees.
On National Battery Day, let us not only celebrate the essential role of batteries in powering our everyday lives but also recognize the dedicated individuals who make it possible. By prioritizing employee health and safety, the lead battery recycling industry is not only advancing sustainability but also nurturing a workplace culture where every employee can thrive. Together, let us continue to prioritize safety, innovation, and sustainability as we shape a brighter future for generations to come.
Posted in: News
February 8, 2024
ABR member company, East Penn Manufacturing, recently launched Power2Recycle, a comprehensive environmental campaign to increase awareness about the role consumers play in properly recycling lead batteries.
Power2Recycle highlights the importance of the partnership between lead battery manufacturers, recyclers and the public in the ongoing success of the industry’s highly successful circular economy.
With Power2Recycle, East Penn is hoping to expand our industry’s success story by educating consumers about their role in the recycling process and empowering them to choose products like lead batteries that are designed to be endlessly recyclable and sustainable.
“We were inspired by industry associations like ABR, BCI (Battery Council International) and ILA (International Lead Association), and all they’ve done in support of the industry to promote products that have a high rate of recyclability and are sustainable,” said Joel Brady, assistant vice president of marketing at East Penn. “It encouraged us to take a look here at East Penn and think about what we can do to amplify those messages and those efforts.”
East Penn began the campaign in late 2023 with a Power2Recycle video on YouTube and quickly followed up with the creation of a dedicated web page at EastPennManufacturing.com/Power2Recycle. Both were shared and promoted on the company’s social media channels repeatedly over the next few months.
The initial goal of Power2Recycle was to reach at least a million people with the message that each of us has a crucial role to play in the circular economy of lead batteries. In its first few months of promotion, East Penn estimates the campaign has already reached more than 1.5 million people.
The company also issued a series of three press releases about the campaign to local, national and trade media, helping to increase awareness of lead battery recycling more broadly.
The awareness campaign is already having an impact locally. After seeing stories in the hometown paper, the Reading Eagle, and on television station WFMZ, customers are bringing lead batteries to the East Penn factory sales store for recycling for the first time.
East Penn continues to build on the campaign with content they hope will help consumers sift through all the noise and confusing claims about conservation and environmental issues. Ultimately, they want consumers to see themselves in the story, understand their vital role in the process and feel empowered to make sustainable choices.
East Penn’s full line of transportation batteries was recently validated by Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) with an allocation of 98% recycled content, the world’s highest UL Recycled Content Validation for batteries. This milestone underscores East Penn’s commitment to environmental responsibility and showcases a groundbreaking step towards creating batteries with an exceptionally high level of recycled materials.
By sharing this accomplishment, East Penn aims to reinforce the collaborative impact achievable when manufacturers, recyclers and consumers unite, emphasizing our collective ability to make substantial contributions to the conservation of natural resources.
“The other thing that we did was we made sure that we communicated these objectives and accomplishments to our employees, because as much as we hope our employees understand the important role that they play in manufacturing it and its ties to recycling,” said Brady, “we didn’t want to take that for granted. So, we developed messages specifically for our employees that we put out through our employee app and have had over 8,000 employees engage with it.”
As part of its messaging to employees, East Penn coined the term ManuCycling™ to mean a completely integrated manufacturing and recycling process. A video on the Power2Recycle website helps explain the importance of this closed-loop system to efficiently turn old batteries into new.
East Penn is proud to be part of an industry that demonstrates what can be accomplished when consumers, recyclers and manufacturers work together toward a common goal. Through Power2Recycle the company hopes to continue to share the lead battery industry’s successful efforts to support resource conservation, integrated recycling and carbon reduction technologies with the world.
Posted in: News
