yeah uhmm, good luck with that one!

Doesn\'t all the fuel used in shipping the batteries to and fro wipe out the \"green\" benefits?

So packing the batteries away for mail, remembering to mail them, so they can be shipped around the country for someone else to recharge them; then wait for someone recharge them and to do the same process and wait for them to arrive.
Might be useful for someone who doesn\'t have electricty or access to the sun for a solar charger...

So... the target market is people who are too lazy or lack the time to slap their batteries in a charger. But those same people will be motivated and find the time to keep the battery mailer around until the batteries die, then seal them up in the mailer and shlep them to the mailbox. Sorry, I don\'t think so.

I\'m having a hard time wrapping my brain around this. I agree that all of the batteries in the landfill is really bad for the environment. However, the concept to mail dead batteries away to be recharged doesn\'t make sence to me. The extra cost in shipping, handling and vehicle fuel would, to me, outweigh the need for this method. As consumers we do not have the paitince to wait for fully charged batteries. Also, the time used to track down two AA batteries that got lost in the mail would be a waste of my time to bother with. How about a biodegradable battery or market solar recharge kit. But this.....

Hi Guys. I hope you see the upside of what we\'re trying to do here. Many people have opted to recharge their own batteries, and that\'s great. But the vast majority of the market doesn\'t after 30 years of opportunity to do so, which puts us in the position we are today with 3 billion batteries per year ending up in landfills.
Our batteries are cost-competitive with alkalines, including the prepaid mailer to recycle them. That\'s a huge win for customers who don\'t recharge their own batteries, and an even bigger win for the fight to eliminate battery waste.
As for the environmental costs of shipping, it\'s an important point. What is relevant is the marginal environmental cost per weight of USPS shipping, since the postal employee is coming to your house anyways. This happens to be very small.
That cost has to be compared with the way you buy batteries. For example, hopping in your Prius to grab 4 AAs at the last minute has a vastly larger footprint. Grabbing some AAs at the store with the rest of your groceries in your Humvee has a larger footprint. If you walk to the corner store, however, then the mail delivery would have a somewhat larger footprint.
Ultimately, given the choice between making the mailman\'s bag a bit heavier, or landfilling billions of batteries every year, I\'d make the bag heavier every time.
Sincerely, Jason Rugolo earthCell founder

I am pretty sure the idea is similar to the blue rhino propane tanks (except with shipping). You buy re-charged batteries (from a yet to be named source) and mail your dead ones off. The dead ones will be recharged then sent to a distributor (where we will buy them). Basically we are buying used batteries at a premium in order to ensure we are being greener than people who just throw away their batteries. I am pretty sure the business model sucks but I have seen people do significantly more environmental harm in trying to be green so maybe this will fly with the people who fall for the green term without looking to see if it is bunk or not.

A prepaid mailer for safe disposal of truly dead batteries would be welcome.
It says at the end of the article that these cells can also be charged at home as usual for rechargeable batteries.

Ha! Reading all the above comments, there is nothing I can do but completely agree with *ALL* of them! LOL! Who would do this? I know I wouldn\'t! In fact, the only thing keeping me from throwing away rechargeables instead of tossing them when they are spent is that they cost more than disposables! If they were the same price as disposables, I\'ld toss them as well and get fresh batteries!

I also am doubtful that this business idea will work. A person is either conscientious about their use of batteries or they are not. If you only buy disposable batteries (which I do not recommend) then you need to keep a pail for the dead ones and make sure they go to hazmat instead of getting buried with rest of garbage. I personally buy rechargables and have in place a battery recharge/maintenance routine to fill our needs. If you are conscientious about this problem, you need to invest the small amount of time it takes to do it. Using rechargeables then mailing them off does not take less time. It just adds to the complexity and uses even more resources!