For Skyline High School student Hailey Park, an interest in environmentalism existed long before she conceptualized Charge for Change.

Park, currently a sophomore, is the daughter of two South Korean immigrants who own and operate a Salt Lake City restaurant called Mr. Shabu. Growing up around her family’s business, Park began to realize that the restaurant generated a substantial amount of battery waste. After encountering battery recycling stations at both the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College, Park decided to take the initiative into her own hands, ultimately leading to the creation of Charge for Change.

Like many nonprofit organizations, Charge for Change emerged from humble beginnings. After drawing inspiration from her surroundings, Park channeled substantial energy into researching battery recycling. It was around this same time that she began collecting batteries from her friends and family, before dropping them off at one of Utah’s battery disposal centers. During those drop-offs, which Park herself would facilitate, she routinely inquired about the battery disposal and recycling process. Eventually, Park would use this newfound knowledge as a foundational base for creating Charge for Change. 

“It mostly started in December of 2024,” Park said. “That’s when I started actually collecting batteries, not just from the people I knew but from people that I didn’t know throughout the community. I started at the library by my house, at Whitmore Library, in Cottonwood Heights. That’s where I put my very first collection box and it became so much more popular than I thought it would. Just in the first week, we had [the donation box] filled up.”

Following this unexpected success, Park decided to establish additional donation stations at the Cottonwood Heights City Hall and the Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center. Park’s hard work was beginning to come to fruition; however, she soon realized the project was becoming unmanageable for one person alone. At the time, Park was unable to drive, making it difficult to oversee the logistics associated with the collection process. Her next move was founding a club at Skyline High School. In autumn of 2025, Charge for Change was officially born.

Charge for Change is almost exclusively student-run. For context, all clubs at Skyline are overseen by an adult advisor; in the case of Charge for Change, that advisor is science teacher Malia Groesbeck. However, despite Groesbeck’s support, Charge for Change is very much propelled by students, particularly those in leadership positions. Since the club’s formal registration as a nonprofit, they have recycled 1,270 pounds of batteries.

As of spring 2026, Park has retained her position as founder and president of Charge for Change. The club also features six additional student leadership positions currently held by Lydia Bartholomew, Melanie Wang, Elijah Shen, Nathan Wilkerson Wong, Solomon Kim and Chloe Park. In a little over a year’s time, Charge for Change has grown to 60 students and counting, as it remains open enrollment for students interested in joining. Park stated that while Charge for Change is currently exclusive to Skyline students, the organization leaves the opportunity for students at other schools to establish clubs of their own.

Presently, Charge for Change is focused on a handful of different tasks, including managing their four current donation boxes. These donation boxes can be utilized by anyone in the community and are equipped to handle any type of battery, aside from alkaline batteries. Unlike other batteries, alkaline batteries require a different refinement process to become suitable for recycling. While some specialized facilities and hazardous waste programs in Utah are able to process alkaline batteries, the infrastructure for widespread alkaline battery recycling remains limited.

“We’ve talked with [the disposal centers] about recycling alkaline batteries and they’ve agreed to dispose of them in a way that mitigates risk and stops them from going into the landfill with everyone else. So right now, although those aren’t being fully recycled, they’re being disposed of in a way that is a little safer for the environment,” Park said.

Despite the limited availability of alkaline battery recycling in Utah, Park remains optimistic that such technology could become more accessible in the future. More broadly, Park hopes to see Utah strengthen its battery recycling initiatives through the addition of supportive legislation. She pointed to California as an example with its extensive battery recycling protocols already in place. Park hopes to see similar legislation and infrastructure implemented in Utah.

“One thing we did recently, me and a few people from the Charge for Change team was go to the Cottonwood Heights City Hall and we had a meeting with the city’s planners and a few other people to talk about potential next steps. Steps for how we can continue to grow our program with them,” Park said. “So I’m hoping that soon in a few years after our program expands even more, we’ll be able to have a bigger impact by working with various city halls.”

Park is fully committed to Charge for Change and intends to continue growing the program until she graduates. Park cannot say for certain whether she will maintain a position within the organization post-graduation, although she hopes to remain involved in some capacity. For now, Park is focused on ensuring the club is managed effectively while continuing to expand both her team and the number of donation boxes available.

Charge for Change battery donation stations are currently located at the Millcreek Community Library, Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center, Cottonwood Heights City Hall and Whitmore Library in Cottonwood Heights. All types of batteries, including larger batteries such as car batteries, can be donated at any Charge for Change box. The only batteries not accepted for recycling are alkaline batteries and leaking batteries of any kind. To learn more about Charge for Change and stay up to date on its operations, visit its Instagram page, @Charge.For.Change