Brought to you by Interstate Battery

Batteries are everywhere. From cars and cell phones to watches and toys, the average household uses about 21 batteries at any given time. We generally don’t think about batteries until we need new ones, but it’s time we started thinking about the ones we throw away – specifically how we can recycle or reuse batteries to diminish waste and safely dispose of battery components.

Enter Interstate Battery. The national company’s Indianapolis affiliate sells just about any kind of battery, but can dispose of just about any kind of battery, too.

“With each one of those [new battery] sales, we recycle the batteries one-for-one, so we have 100 percent collection,” said Dennis McDaniel, owner of Interstate Battery in Indianapolis. “We do a huge amount of additional clean up of everything from auto to telecommunication batteries. We do about 1 million pounds a month additional battery clean up beyond our one-to-one.”

Interstate Battery’s focus on recycling has been around for several years, but the local arm of the business is expanding the campaign by installing containers in retailers across Indianapolis. That means consumers can drop off used batteries at a location convenient to them. For a container site near you and directions on handling a possibly harmful battery, contact Interstate Battery at (317) 322-1818.

“Our motto is ‘every battery for every need,’” McDaniel said. “That gives us the ultimate responsibility that we’re going to recycle every battery for every need.”

Interstate also does battery pack rebuilds, taking out old cells and replacing them with new. Other components of the battery are reused, cutting waste significantly.

Making batteries greener

Batteries are made from a variety of materials, some of which are quite hazardous.

“If they’re not properly recycled, the chemical and heavy metals end up in the groundwater," McDaniel said. “If people keep them in their homes, even a dead battery, there still might be enough charge to start a fire. There are a lot of safety issues.”

Recycling has been a national thrust at Interstate for several years, and the Indianapolis franchise is one of the top 10 resellers and recyclers for the company nationwide.

“The world in general is outselling the ability to properly handle batteries for recycling, that’s why we jumped into it so strongly,” McDaniel said. “We wanted to make sure that our footprint was positive not negative when the day was done.”

Recycling batteries big and small

The average person likely doesn’t think about batteries beyond their MP3 player or laptop, but batteries have lives beyond our convenience or entertainment and function importantly in the industrial world as well. Interstate can supply these batteries, but they’re also on hand to get rid of old batteries on a grand scale.

“We can remove and recycle batteries for forklifts, which can weigh 3,000 pounds,” McDaniel said. Interstate also handles everything from batteries in corporate computer backup systems to golf carts, often working behind the scenes at automotive centers and car dealers to dispose of the batteries they collect.

Batteries are a part of our lives, but learning how to dispose of them properly is something we all should do. Interstate Battery is a local source for all your battery and battery recycling needs.

—By Holly Wheeler, for Custom Publications

This content is sponsored by:
Interstate Battery
Every battery for every need
An independent distributor of automotive and truck batteries and Indianapolis franchise of Interstate Battery providing batteries and battery recycling for consumer, technical, industrial, automotive and medical uses.
Location: 6848 E. 21st St., Indianapolis, IN
Contact: (317) 322-1818, ibsa4535@sbcglobal.net