By Darren Lum

In just about everyone’s junk drawer there is a collection of AA batteries.
Each one of those batteries contains enough zinc to potentially save the lives of six children who have a zinc deficiency in their diet. Zinc is necessary for growth brain development and aids in fighting infections.

Since last month the  Haliburton Highlands Secondary School Interact Club has been collecting the batteries for the Zinc Saves Kids initiative promoted by the resource company Teck through its Zinc and Health program.

Interact co-president Leah Berry is asking for the public’s help in this yearlong effort.
“A lot of people don’t know what to do with their used batteries and they end up throwing them out. That causes harm to the environment. It’s something we can take out of our landfills to help with something else” she said.

Berry and her club learned about this effort from a Teck representative at the annual We Day event in Toronto on Oct. 1. The Free The Children event  empowers youth to act on local and global issues.
The Zinc Saves Kids initiative is by the International Zinc Association a non-profit organization that strives to improve the survival growth and development of undernourished children through its funding of UNICEF supported zinc programs around the world.

Teck said  their involvement isn’t about trying to sell zinc.
The zincsaveslives.com website said the annual amount required for zinc supplements is less than two per cent of its entire annual production and less than 0.1 per cent of global production.

Their effort they say is about raising awareness and helping to  solve this health issue.
The Interact members will be outside the office every second Friday at lunch to collect in person.
Outside of that the batteries are being accepted at the school’s office until the end of the school year.
For more information email triple_lberry@hotmail.com.