Battery Collection in Action Case Study: Community Connections Drive Battery Collection at the Trinidad Rancheria
On this page:
Introduction
The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria is a federally recognized Tribe located along the coast of Northern California. Tribal membership is primarily Yurok, with ancestral ties to the Wiyot, Tolowa, Chetco, Karuk, and Hupa peoples.
The Trinidad Rancheria Natural Resources Department oversees environmental programming and policy for the Tribe, including solid and hazardous waste reduction and management. The program began informally collecting batteries from the Tribal community over 40 years ago to prevent used batteries and their toxic components from entering landfills and to recover valuable materials for recycling. The program currently collects alkaline, lead-acid, lithium and other battery chemistries.
The Tribe's collection program serves rancheria residences, businesses and Tribal members by offering a community collection site at the Tribal government office, free home/business pickup of household hazardous waste by appointment, and an annual household hazardous waste collection event. The Trinidad Rancheria credits the long-term stability of its battery collection program to strong intertribal partnerships and community connections.
Program Design and Implementation
The Trinidad Rancheria's current battery collection efforts serve Tribal government offices and maintenance department, the Heights Casino, multiple restaurants, businesses connected to the Trinidad pier and lighthouse, 40 to 50 rancheria (on-reservation) homes, and a community of nearly 200 Tribal members.
The Tribe's Natural Resources Department primarily funds battery collection and household hazardous waste management activities through revenue from Tribal operations. Revenue from Tribal operations helps fund an annual community cleanup event targeting household hazardous waste collection. The cleanup event costs about $12,500 each year to execute, and accepts batteries, lightbulbs, paint, used motor oil and other household hazardous waste from Tribal members and residences free of charge. The cleanup events do not cover casinos and other businesses. The Tribe collected over 10 tons of recoverable material at its 2024 community cleanup event, including 30 pounds of household batteries, eight lead-acid car batteries, and 234 pounds of electronic waste (including seven miscellaneous vehicle batteries). The Natural Resources Department also participates in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's General Assistance Program and hazardous waste management grant program, which allocate money for federally recognized Tribes to implement environmental protection and solid and hazardous waste management programs. The grants primarily fund a full-time hazardous waste technician.
The Natural Resources Department's year-round battery collection efforts for residences and Tribal members include a simple, low-maintenance collection box located at the Tribal government office building. The department hosts the collection box in a publicly accessible, consistent location (unchanged over 20 years), and the drop-off collection program is well known and used by residents in the Tribal community. There are no restrictions on the types of batteries that Tribal members can drop off, provided they fit inside the collection box.
The department also requests that members bring the batteries in zippered plastic bags, a safety measure to prevent short circuiting and fires. When the box fills up, staff sort and separate out any lithium batteries, which are not locally accepted, and transport all other chemistries to local businesses and key partners that accept batteries for recycling. The Natural Resources Department has not historically tracked annual battery collection totals beyond the single-day collection event, but they deliver a container full of batteries to recycling partners every one to two months. In 2025, the department purchased a scale and has since tracked month-by-month drop-off collection totals to better understand trends over time.
In addition to battery drop-off, the Natural Resources Department offers site visits to Trinidad Rancheria homes and businesses (Heights Casino, restaurants, and harbor) by request. The pick-up program recently helped clear a backlog of batteries from the Casino. Staff consolidate batteries from pick-ups at a household hazardous waste unit, which provides a safe collection and storage location for the Tribe's waste. In 2024, the Trinidad Rancheria used General Assistance Program and hazardous waste management funding to purchase and outfit this new unit. Tribal members can also schedule appointments with the department to drop off materials at the unit.
The Trinidad Rancheria's Key Community Partnerships
The following businesses and local community organizations are critical to the success of the Trinidad Rancheria's battery collection program:
- A local recycler and an auto parts store provide battery recycling services to the Trinidad Rancheria. Natural Resources Department staff transport household alkaline batteries (A, AA, and other miscellaneous sizes) and mid-format lead-acid batteries to the local recycler for free recycling. In addition, the auto parts store offers free recycling for both used oil and lead-acid automotive batteries. Natural Resources Department staff exchange automotive and deep cycle marine batteries with a "core charge," or a deposit paid by customers at the time of sale that is refunded upon returning the battery to the retailer, for a $10 in-store credit per battery. The Trinidad Rancheria uses these accumulated credits to purchase vehicle and maintenance supplies for Tribal government operations.
- Humboldt Waste Management Authority oversees Humboldt County's waste management activities, including a transfer station, household hazardous waste facility, and landfill. They have been a longstanding partner of the Trinidad Rancheria in collaboratively resolving disposal and recycling challenges for a variety of hazardous materials, and they provide Natural Resources Department staff with professional development experience and additional training through site shadowing.
- Cal Poly Humboldt is a public university in Northern California that offers hazardous waste management training and networking opportunities.
Intertribal coordination is also key to both establishing a successful battery collection program and maintaining community awareness. The Natural Resources Department maintains close relationships with other Trinidad Rancheria Tribal offices, including the Tribal Housing Department and Tribal Cultural Programs Department. These organizations assist the Natural Resources Department with word-of-mouth outreach about its battery collection program. For example, staff from the Natural Resources Department occasionally accompany housing staff on their home visits to distribute flyers and educational materials to residences.
What Works Well
A key strength of the Tribe's battery collection program is the frequent interaction between Natural Resources Department staff and Tribal members. The department maintains a constant presence in this tight-knit community. In collaboration with the Tribal housing office, department staff conduct in-home pickups of batteries and other household hazardous waste for Tribal elders and mobility-limited residents. Door-to-door outreach—including verbal promotion and distribution of printed materials to promote the annual community cleanup event—generates awareness of the battery collection program and builds trust and familiarity with staff among Tribal members. Trinidad Rancheria businesses also request site visits from department staff, and frequently express appreciation for staff assistance in responsibly managing their used batteries.
Low overhead costs and consistent grant funding have also been critical for the department's battery collection successes. While the department employs five to six staff members, battery management activities occupy a small portion of the hazardous waste technician's time, primarily requiring travel one hour away to the city of Eureka every one to two months for battery drop-off at local recycling partners.
Additionally, California's hazardous and universal waste regulations ban the disposal of all batteries in landfills. By driving consumers and businesses toward recycling their batteries, these regulations help provide local battery recyclers with a large supply of batteries and reduce fires at landfills. The state's 2022 Responsible Battery Recycling Act will require battery manufacturers to fund collection and recycling opportunities across the state by 2027, which may increase local battery recycling opportunities for difficult-to-recycle batteries.
Challenges Encountered
Lithium battery recycling is a recent challenge for the Trinidad Rancheria. The Natural Resources Department accepts lithium batteries from the community, but program staff are currently storing them in their hazardous waste unit while searching for a practical, cost-effective recycling solution. There are currently no local businesses or organizations that accept lithium batteries for recycling and end-of-life management. As use of lithium batteries becomes more widespread in consumer electronics, however, the department is motivated to find a long-term recycling partner. The department's limited staff capacity is also currently a hurdle to expanding the general collection program and outreach activities, and the department is seeking additional funding to support the annual household hazardous waste collection events.
Insights and Next Steps
The Trinidad Rancheria's small-scale community battery recycling program prevents used batteries from entering landfills and recovers valuable materials for recycling, even with limited staff and financial resources. Consistency has been key to building community understanding of battery collection opportunities, which saves time and advertising funding.
Key Takeaways and Lessons Learned
The Trinidad Rancheria's battery collection success demonstrates that:
- Consistency creates community recognition and awareness. The Tribe does not directly advertise its year-round battery collection efforts outside of the annual community cleanup day advertisement. Tribal members are familiar with the long-term location of a battery drop-off box at the Tribal office and participate without reminders—for many members, battery collection and drop-off are ingrained habits.
- Community relationships drive participation. The Trinidad Rancheria developed working relationships with community recycling partners, including local businesses and the county waste management authority, who accept end-of-life batteries and provide educational and recycling assistance services, respectively. Partnerships among Tribal offices are equally important in sustaining the program; these partnerships include collaboration with the housing office to conduct home visits.
- EPA offers financial assistance for household hazardous waste management activities. The Trinidad Rancheria makes consistent use of Tribal funding opportunities from EPA to support battery collection programs and general materials management activities. These include the General Assistance Program grant program and other hazardous waste management grants, which are available for federally recognized Tribes.
- Organizations can run collection programs cost-effectively. Key activities of the Tribe's collection program, including a year-round battery collection box, require minimal cost and effort to maintain. Natural Resources Department staff pair battery recycling education with promotion of other household hazardous waste initiatives to save on outreach costs.
Next Steps
Looking ahead, the Natural Resources Department is currently designing a zero-waste facility funded by an EPA Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant to expand its waste reduction activities. The upgraded facility will provide additional space for Tribal recycling, composting, and hazardous waste management activities, and will support the Trinidad Rancheria in responsibly managing end-of-life materials.