News

Battery recycling could take off with Oregon kiosks

October 1, 2012

A Portland, Ore.-based startup will attempt to take on the battery industry with its concept of a rechargeable battery kiosk.

According to an article on sustainablebusinessoregon.com, the Bettery kiosk will offer customers a convenient way to purchase rechargeable batteries. Once the batteries are dead, customers can return them to the Bettery kiosk in exchange for fresh ones, thus decreasing the amount of batteries that end up in landfills every year.

Bettery will also accept used alkaline batteries at its kiosk which will be recycled through a partnership with Total Reclaim Environmental Services, according to the article.

Started by technology entrepreneur Charlie Kawasaki, Bettery has raised more than $350,000 in early capital from private investors to see the company through the pilot phase. Bettery is also getting an investment in the form of branding work from Wieden+Kennedy, the article reported.

Bettery earned the approval of waste management officials in Oregon and Washington, where Bettery is planning its initial rollout.

"We're interested in moving folks up the solid waste hierarchy: Reduce, reuse recycle," said Andy Sloop, resource conservation and recycling manager for the Metro regional government. "What Bettery could do is make it easier to move up to a reusable option, which is better for the environment."

Read more about recycling and vending kiosks.