The first industrywide electric bicycle battery recycling program in the US is off and rolling, and Yamaha is proud to be involved. Together with PeopleForBikes and Call2Recycle, we’re working to make sure that when lithium-ion batteries reach their end of life, they get safely handled and returned to the proper recycling stream, instead of ending up in landfills.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: “Li-ion batteries are made of materials such as cobalt, graphite and lithium which are considered critical minerals and are economically and strategically important. When these batteries are disposed of in the trash, we lose these critical resources outright. Additionally, if the battery is disposed of in the trash or placed in the municipal recycling bin with household recyclables such as plastic, paper, or glass, it may become damaged or crushed in transport or from processing and sorting equipment, creating a fire hazard.”

The new program is a collective effort by the cycling industry and is funded by a per-unit-fee of $15,  which we began adding as a line item on invoices last May. That fee covers the cost of the program start up and ongoing costs, including online training, shipping, support material and more.

Do you have an e-bike battery to recycle? You can find a drop off location here. If there are no locations immediately available near you, odds are there will be soon, as a nationwide collection network is growing daily.