In Celebration of Earth Day, AAA Asks Everyone to Make A Positive Environmental Impact

AAA’s Great Battery Roundup is April 25 in Bozeman

Bozeman, Mont. 4/21/09 – AAA and Elite Towing want the public's help rounding up what is estimated to be more than five million used car, truck, boat, and motorcycle batteries that have not made their way to the recycling plant.

To encourage battery recycling, AAA is hosting the Great Battery Roundup April 25 at the AAA Bozeman Service Center, located on 1530 North 19th Avenue. Activities will begin at 11am with food, fun, and prizes. Technicians will be onsite from 11-2pm to test your batteries’ health and collect old batteries. A certified Child Safety Technician will also be on hand to ensure your child’s safety seat is properly fitted and protects them.

“AAA is on a mission to educate the public on the potential dangers of having old lead acid batteries in our living areas while also encouraging battery recycling" said Denice Harris, AAA Spokeswoman.

Leaking acid from these old acid batteries can be harmful to children, pets and our environment warns AAA. Therefore, AAA recommends that consumers wear gloves and safety glasses when handling batteries.  Place batteries upright in a secure, water tight container when transporting them for recycling. Do not smoke near or expose the batteries to an open flame, and make certain they will not shift or tip over in a moving vehicle.

The car battery is a renewable source of vehicle power; each element can be reclaimed and reused. The lead, plastic and sulfate from expired batteries are recycled to create new batteries over and over again. Sulfuric acid can also be neutralized, purified and released as clean water; or it can be converted to sodium sulfate, an element used in fertilizer, dyes and other products. Unfortunately, says AAA, millions of these batteries never get a new chance at life because they've gotten lost in the shuffle.

“The typical new lead acid battery contains 60 to 80 percent recycled lead and plastic, which saves money and energy on raw materials and protects the natural resources in the environment” added Harris.

Some of these old batteries are being illegally disposed of in dumpsters, or simply placed in consumer's garages, yards or storage sheds awaiting disposal. Therefore, AAA wants to encourage more people to bring these batteries to a recycling center or drop them off throughout the year at Elite Towing, located on 2210 Lea Avenue.

AAA MountainWest Club is dedicated to providing its over 160,000 members in Alaska, Montana and Wyoming with travel, insurance, financial and auto-related services.  A fully taxpaying, not-for-profit corporation, AAA MountainWest, Inc. works for the improvement of motoring and traveling conditions and is a leader for travel, civic and safety issues. AAA can be visited on the Internet at www.AAA.com.  To have up-to-date news and safety information from AAA delivered right to your desktop, sign-up for the new RSS Feed at http://aca.aaa.com/exts/email/?club=066#rss

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