I was very disappointed when I viewed your entire battery recycling program and found that you had failed to find one business that will take LeClanche cells (non-rechargeable) for recycling. As a radio amateur, I use a lot of battery-powered equipment. Yes, I use recyclable when possible, but some equipment does not convert easily to rechargeables. For instance, the life of Halogen flashlights is substantially reduced if you do not use the correct voltage on them, which will happen if you don't use alkaline or carbon-zinc cells. More halogen in the waste! A few years ago I spent a day phoning around to find out how to safely dispose of primary cells. I was astounded that the city of Toronto told me that I had to take them all the way out to the East York transfer station - at a time when I was saving the planet by not owning a car! The result of my research was the discovery of one retail outlet that takes all types of cells, and also those new mercury-containing compact flourescent lamps that Stephen Harper is forcing on use (there is an idea for another program!). That store is IKEA, and we keep our cells in a bag in our apartment for our next visit. Do we have to have Swedes come to our country to show us how to recycle? Shame on us! Posted by: Nigel Johnson | Oct 31, 07 08:11 PM

I am so happy that someone is finally opening people's eyes regarding batteries in the landfill! I have been taking all our "dead" batteries, aerosol cans, dead lighters and paint to the dangerous disposal for many years. I was hoping that every time I told someone about this, they would follow suit. I was so glad to see your story about educating Canadians about this. We have to think about future generations and the impact! For most people it seems like such a pain to have to take all these things to the local dangerous depot that most people would rather throw them in the garbage. Too bad municipalities wouldn't accept responsibility and have special collections for these things, or have the federal government make this a law, after all we really have to think about the big picture! The only thing I think that would have been cool to include is what happens to the dead batteries after they arrive at the dangerous depot at the dump? Do they reuse them? Do they store them forever? Do they incinerate them? What happens? Does anyone know for sure? Posted by: Chrissy | Nov 11, 07 10:27 AM

This is a wonderful example of what public broadcasting gives us, light shinned onto corporate greed and corruption. The PR puff was demolished by the journalist. We need much more of this critical democracy creating journalism. I would be more comfortable, however, if the CBC stopped airing advertisements for the battery industry and all corporations that are owned by them or own them. The ecocrisis will never be solved through purchasing decisions and more shows like this one are needed. Posted by: Dean B | Feb 15, 08 08:35 PM