LAKE COUNTY — A car battery “roundup” recycling program is about to begin. AAA is holding its seventh annual Great Battery Roundup at 89 locations in northern California.
Two drop-off locations in Lake County will be open to take old car batteries from April 9 through April 19.
Fischer Auto Electric in Clearlake will participate this year for the third year, according to service manager Steve Blume. A ? 1 Towing in Lakeport is also a drop-off site. Dispatcher Kelly Rumfelt said a palette will be in the parking lot where the batteries can be dropped off for convenience. Both establishments are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
“Anybody can bring in any battery they have. One guy had his own power plant in Lower Lake, and he brought in the batteries from that. We”ve seen golf cart batteries. We”re just a drop-off point. This is a chance people to bring their batteries in, no questions asked, no hassles, and get the batteries out of people”s yards where they may be spewing acid,” Blume said.
According to a Monday AAA press release, tens of thousands of batteries are disposed of illegally or dumped in bodies or water every year. “By dropping off old vehicle batteries at one of AAA”s Battery Roundup locations, you are preventing dangerous pollution as well as fires, chemical burns, lead poisoning and other accidents suffered every year by more than 7,000 Americans, many of them children,” AAA spokesperson Cynthia Harris said.
“We find very few in illegal dumping sites. What we find when we clean up residential sites is that people tend to stack them up in their yards,” county Code Enforcement Manager Voris Brumfield said. Since car batteries contain hazardous material, Brumfield said storing them in a yard is illegal.
Car batteries can also be recycled year-round at Clear Lake Waste Solutions (formerly Timberline Disposal) on Soda Bay Road, and at East Lake Landfill in Clearlake, according to Deputy Public Services Director Caroline Chavez.
Harris said AAA takes the old batteries to recycling centers, where they are dismantled and made into new batteries. For every battery recycled, AAA donates two dollars to a county”s environmental association. She said nearly $40,000 has been given to charities since the program started seven years ago, including Lake County”s Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
