Recycle Your Batteries, Canada! and The Gaia Project are bringing battery recycling education into New Brunswick classrooms, helping students understand how everyday actions can contribute to a more sustainable future.
What happens to a battery when we’re finished using it?
It’s a simple question, but one that can open the door to important conversations about waste, recycling, environmental responsibility, safety, and the circular economy.
Through a partnership between Call2Recycle and The Gaia Project, students across New Brunswick will have opportunities to explore these topics through hands-on, curriculum-connected environmental education.
The collaboration supports Call2Recycle’s Recycle Your Batteries, Canada! program in New Brunswick by pairing increased access to battery recycling with education designed to help young people understand why responsible recycling matters – and how they can take action.
Turning Awareness into Action
Making battery recycling accessible is an important part of keeping batteries out of the waste stream. But access is only one piece of the puzzle.
Building awareness and helping people understand what to do, why it matters, and how their actions make a difference are equally important.
That’s where education comes in.
Through The Gaia Project’s bilingual environmental education programming, students will explore the importance of properly recycling batteries, the environmental and safety considerations associated with improper disposal, and the role recycling plays in supporting a circular economy.
Most importantly, students will see that environmental action doesn’t always have to start with something big. It can begin with everyday choices at school, at home, and in their communities.
“Expanding access to battery recycling is essential, but awareness is what drives action,” said Joe Zenobio, President and CEO at Call2Recycle. “By partnering with The Gaia Project, we’re connecting directly with students and educators to build lasting habits and create a culture of responsible recycling in New Brunswick.”
Bringing Real-World Environmental Learning into the Classroom
For The Gaia Project, the partnership is an opportunity to connect environmental education with a tangible action students can understand and participate in.
For nearly 15 years, The Gaia Project has worked with New Brunswick schools to make environmental education engaging, accessible, and action-oriented. Each year, more than 10,000 students participate in Gaia’s in-person programming, including hands-on activities that help students better understand waste and identify ways to reduce what is sent to landfill.
Battery recycling provides another real-world opportunity for students to connect what they learn in the classroom with actions they can take in their everyday lives.
“The Gaia Project is excited to collaborate with Call2Recycle to bring meaningful, action-oriented learning to classrooms across New Brunswick,” said Geoff MacDonald, Executive Director at The Gaia Project. “By engaging youth in real-world environmental solutions, we’re helping to build the next generation of sustainability leaders.”
Reaching Schools Across New Brunswick
During the 2026–2027 school year, battery recycling education will be incorporated into programming in approximately 30 New Brunswick schools.
The collaboration will also extend beyond individual classroom activities through school outreach, teacher engagement, digital awareness initiatives, and a collaborative community event celebrating participation in battery recycling.
By working directly with educators and students, Call2Recycle and The Gaia Project aim to build knowledge that students can carry beyond the classroom and share with their families and communities.
The goal is not simply to teach students how to recycle a battery. It is to help them understand the bigger picture: why responsible disposal matters, how materials can remain in circulation rather than becoming waste, and how individual actions contribute to broader environmental solutions.
Building Habits for a More Sustainable Future
Young people have an important role to play in building more sustainable communities.
Giving students opportunities to participate in practical environmental solutions helps turn sustainability from an abstract idea into something they can see, understand, and act on.
By combining Call2Recycle’s battery recycling expertise and expanding collection network with The Gaia Project’s experience in environmental education, the partnership is helping create those opportunities for students across New Brunswick.
Because when young people understand the impact of their choices, something as small as recycling a battery can become part of something much bigger.
Learn more about battery recycling and find a collection location through Recycle Your Batteries, Canada!
Learn more about The Gaia Project’s environmental education programs at thegaiaproject.ca.
