charities

Note to self:
Don't donate to USA for UNHCR. They spend 38% on fundraising!

Better-rated charities which help refugees.

recycling jump-starter / SSLA battery

I had an old portable car jump-starter that was no longer taking a charge. As it contains a small sealed lead-acid battery (SSLA), I couldn't simply put it with the garbage.

According to some web searches, Best Buy, Lowes, and Home Depot all supposedly take SSLA batteries for recycling, as long as they are under 11 pounds. According to my scale, the charger was just about 11 pounds, so the battery itself must be less. I wasn't sure if I should remove the battery from the case, as that would involve cutting wires.

I took the unit to Home Depot, but the people there said they only accepted smaller batteries like the ones from hand tools.

I tried another web search; couldn't find any other place that would definitely take it. An SC-DHEC document indicated that places that sell regular lead acid batteries have to also accept them for recycling. But it didn't say the same for SSLA batteries.

But I called up Advance Auto, and they confirmed that they would take it, case and all. And they did. Yay.