Portland-based company BETTERY has partnered with Safeway to install high-tech kiosks for recycling alkaline batteries and exchanging the latest generation in rechargeable batteries. One of these kiosks was recently installed at the Safeway on Bellevue Way.

“It’s definitely brand new, and we’re really pleased with Safeway being our next big national grocery store chain,” said BETTERY CEO and co-founder Charlie Kawasaki, whose company first partnered with Whole Foods for its kiosk locations. “We definitely have national ambitions to be as popular as Redbox or Coinstar is.”

Kawasaki said the idea came about from all of the batteries he was going through when his 12-year-old daughter would read in bed and fall asleep with the flashlight on. He soon found himself with a lot of dead batteries and nowhere to get rid of them, other than a landfill where they would degrade and cause harmful environmental effects.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute, why can’t we do a Redbox for batteries?’ ” he said.

The embedded network system within the BETTERY kiosks allow consumers to recycle their alkaline batteries and also purchase the company’s brand of rechargeable batteries. When the batteries die, Kawasaki said they can be exchanged at the kiosks for new ones. The used BETTERY batteries will then be recharged by the company, which means people don’t have to buy chargers or wait for them to finish charging.

BETTERY offers AA and AAA rechargeable batteries at $2.50 for a four-pack, which Kawasaki said is half the cost in most stores. They also come in reusable cases, which are also used to store depleted batteries for exchange. There is no credit offered for alkaline batteries brought in for recycling.

“We’re offering this as a service to keep them out of landfills,” he said.Safeway employees are being trained on how to use the BETTERY kiosks in order to assist customers, said Kawasaki, adding his company is currently working with a number of national store chains to expand business.