The Rotary Club of Nevada City is again offering our annual drive-through LITHIUM-ION BATTERY RECYCLING EVENT. This year, we are partnering with Peace Lutheran Church (PLC) as they do their regular recyclable bottles collection event, on Saturday May 30, 2026 from 9am-12noon. The public can make it a one-stop recycling day at the church at 828 West Main St, Grass Valley: drop off your recyclables (along with plastic #1, 2 and 5) with the PLC team, then leave all your Lithium-ion (rechargeable) devices and batteries with our Rotary team. Eligible items include cell phones, tablets, laptops, electric toothbrush handles, e-shavers, vapes, wireless headphones and earbuds, Bluetooth speakers, power tool batteries, e-bike batteries, video game controllers, etc.
All lithium-ion batteries are made up of varying amount of metal like cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium. Your smart phones, laptops, and electric vehicles all have batteries made of the same metals. It’s been said that “one of the largest lithium and cobalt mines in the western hemisphere can be found in the junk drawers of America” as people stockpile these products with little information on how to safely and responsibly dispose of them. If we recover materials from old, end of life products, which can be sustainably broken down to their raw metals nearly infinitely, we significantly decrease society’s reliance on newly mined materials. The problem is, today, few pathways exist to get these old products recycled responsibly.
Nevada City Rotary is on a mission to collect as many of these old products as possible to sustainably recycle, refine, and re-manufacture these batteries here in America. Items will be sent to Redwood Materials in Nevada, where the minerals will be separated out and re-manufactured into new e-car batteries.
It’s not necessary to extract the battery from your device; just bring the entire product to be recycled. The recovery of the essential minerals will help ensure the security of American supply chains for electric vehicle batteries and clean energy products.
Please note, this is not an electronic (e-waste) collection event. How to tell the difference? If your item has an electric cord that’s e-waste, not a recyclable battery item.
See more at NevadaCityRotary.org or contact news@ncrotary.org.