Memorandum of Understanding Signed with the Responsible Battery Coalition

May 21, 2019

Dr. Lynn Zender and John Kyte hold up the MOU they signed on behalf of the Solid Waste Alaska Taskforce (SWAT) and the Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC). Also pictured are RBC member representatives from O’Reilly Auto Parts and Advance Auto Parts, other SWAT members, and the Backhaul Alaska Team Leads from sixteen remote Alaska communities.

After several months of meetings, the Solid Waste Alaska Taskforce, which oversees Backhaul Alaska, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC). The RBC is a coalition of companies, academics and organizations committed to the responsible battery management. The MOU formalizes a partnership between the two organizations to collaborate in their shared efforts to recover and recycle spent lead-acid batteries. RBC will receive and recycle all batteries backhauled from Pilot 1 villages and assist the Program in education and outreach efforts. Backhaul Alaska will help to inform the public about the 2 Million Battery Challenge. The 2 Million Battery Challenge is an RBC Program intended to find and recycle the 12% of the nation’s batteries that have not made it back into a recycle stream. Read more about the MOU www.responsiblebatterycoalition.org/news/