Increase Foot Traffic With Recycling
Tresa Yada, assistant store manager of Fallbrook Ace Hardware in Fallbrook, Calif., says customers appreciate the ease of recycling batteries.
Hardware stores and manufacturers incorporate sustainability into business models to keep customers coming back again and again.
In Fallbrook Ace Hardware, buckets are positioned near the checkout counter and battery display. In 2021, the Fallbrook, Calif., store joined the Fallbrook Beautification Alliance Household Battery Recycling Program, which helps the community by recycling used batteries.
The Alliance provides the five-gallon buckets and signage to collect AAA, AA, C, D, button cell, 9-volt rechargeable, and single-use batteries. With other participating locations in addition to Fallbrook Ace Hardware, the program has recycled more than 750,000 batteries.
“The Fallbrook community is filled with residents who really care about our town,” said Tresa Yada, assistant store manager, after the store joined the program. “We welcome the opportunity to be a part of that community.”
Mountain Hardware in Truckee, Calif., stocks Flame King 1-pound refillable propane cylinders to meet the needs of its outdoor enthusiast customers.
With 10 locations in Fox Valley, Ziegler’s Ace in Illinois is another hardware retailer that’s partnered with a non-profit organization to participate in a recycling program. Ziegler’s teamed up with EarthPaint, which recycles paint and paint containers. Once collected from locations such as Ziegler’s Ace, the paint is scraped out, separated based on color, sheen and use, filtered and repackaged to be sold.
Ziegler’s Ace partnered with EarthPaint to provide customers an option for disposing of old paint in a way that would not negatively affect the environment, according to Ziegler’s Ace president Adam Ziegler, who also lauded EarthPaint’s mission to protect the planet through environmentally friendly paint recycling.
Flame King tanks are compatible with propane gear such as grills, lanterns, heaters, and camp stoves.
Based in Wood Dale, Ill., EarthPaint has recycled more than 70 million pounds of paint, keeping it from being disposed of in landfills and possibly leaching into ground water. With the money raised from the project, the organization funds employment of adults with disabilities.
Ziegler’s Ace is also the first retailer to participate in EarthPaint’s spray paint recycling program, which removes paint from aerosol cans so they can be recycled.
