Rechargeable batteries can be recharged 500 to 1,000 times: Consumer Reports
Rechargeable batteries can be recharged 500 to 1,000 times: Consumer Reports
It's something most of us have around the house to power up the TV remote, children’s toys or flashlights in case of a power outage.
But if you find you’re spending too much money on disposable single-use batteries, it may be time to make the switch to rechargeables.
Buying rechargeable batteries and a charger will cost you more up front, but overtime you'll save a lot of money and some batteries can be recharged 500 to 1,000 times which can keep a lot of single-use batteries out of landfill sites.
Meghan Patterson and her family have been using rechargeable batteries for about eight years.
“I worry a lot about our environmental impact when it comes to things like batteries,” Patterson said.
Both rechargeable and single-use batteries contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that can pollute the environment. They both also require water and energy in the manufacturing process and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
A 2016 study in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment found that rechargeable batteries are more sustainable than disposables after you’ve used them at least 50 times -- something that shouldn’t be a problem for most families.
“With kids' toys we go through batteries all the time and now I don’t feel guilty about it,” Patterson said.
Consumer Reports says toys and wireless mice are a great place to use rechargeable batteries since they usually draw a lot of power over a short period of time.
“You know, you buy them once and you can recharge them around a thousand or so times,” said Shanika Whitehurst, with Consumer Reports in Product Sustainability.
Make sure you also buy a charger that can accommodate all the different sizes you’ll be using. As for single-use batteries, they hold a charge longer and are best for things like smoke detectors and emergency tools like flashlights.
“That’s what they’re designed to have a slow discharge for those types of items where you kind of need them on the ready,” said Whitehurst.
Every battery, whether it's single-use or rechargeable has a life span and should be disposed of properly. Don't throw them in the garbage as most municipalities and some stores have easy to use recycling programs.
Beyonce stands alone on her Grammy throne: With her fourth win Sunday night, she has become the most decorated artist in the show's history surpassing the 26-year-old record once held by the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti.
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. became a first-time Grammy Award winner at the pre-broadcast ceremony where fellow Canadians Michael Buble and Drake also picked up trophies.
Canada has sent one of its military planes to Haiti to help the country cope with escalating violence. A joint statement today from National Defence Minister Anita Anand and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has deployed a CP-140 Aurora aircraft to help 'disrupt the activities of gangs' in Haiti.
Montreal conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin scored two Grammys for his classical works Sunday evening. Nézet-Séguin won best opera recording for "Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones," and best classical solo vocal album for "Voice Of Nature - The Anthropocene."
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) will announce its candidate for the Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne riding Monday morning, almost three months after former party leader Dominique Anglade announced her resignation.
London Lightning players looked a little different at their game Sunday, turning in their yellow jerseys for purple ones to bring awareness to the issue of male violence against women.
An armed robbery at Conestoga Mall, a hearing on a 2018 Kitchener house explosion, and a school cancelling Valentine's Day round out the most ready stories of the week.
Greater Sudbury Police Service say it has charged a man and a woman with multiple offences following the investigation into an online ad selling a cellular phone.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
A teen is in hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries following an incident in the Greater Sudbury community of Coniston Saturday evening.
The debate on elected officials pledging allegiance to King Charles III will shift to a small town south of Ottawa this week, as Prescott town council discusses a motion on whether to abolish the requirement for newly elected members.
Windsor police say a vehicle convoy marking the one-year anniversary of the Ambassador Bridge blockade is expected to arrive in the city Sunday afternoon.
After one of the coldest days in years for most of the Maritimes, temperatures were up significantly Sunday. Now, after the big chill came the big thaw -- and a flood of calls for local plumbers.
Cold weather alerts that blanketed eastern Canada for the past two days have largely lifted, but some Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers remain without power due to outages caused by the frigid temperatures and high winds.
New Brunswick RCMP has requested the Nova Scotia Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) conduct an inquiry after a man died during a police response Saturday.
Tucked away on a residential street in Langley, there's a blue cabinet filled with VHS tapes and DVDs bearing the once-familiar logo of Blockbuster video.
The City of Vancouver will be providing $2.8 million in funding to the local health authority to bolster the city’s mental health services, officials announced Sunday.
