I'm being a little factious, but what do you do with three AAA batteries

[demosincebirth]

that are no good? You can't throw them in the garbage. In Ca you have to take them to the hazardous waste disposal site and thats eight miles from my house. Getting rid of them has neve been a problem with me. Just sayin'

[MadHound]

1. I have a shoebox for dead batteries,

When it gets full, I take it in to the haz waste disposal with my next trip there.

[demosincebirth]

8. Good for you! I'm not that regimented.

[MadHound]

10. If you find that regimented,

You must find recycling in general to be a burden.

[demosincebirth]

31. It's not a burden, just those little AAA batteries.

[Evasporque]

25. you should tape the ends....

as dead batteries still have a small charge left and when poles touch after a long period of time they can then leak...making a icky mess.

[MattBaggins]

26. Shoebox can leak

I take a plastic container, like a coolwhip container, cut an X in the top and push my batteries through the slit. Take it with me to the store and dispose of them in the recycle container.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. why cant you throw them in the trash?

[demosincebirth]

5. That's what I do, but the law says otherwise

[Luminous Animal]

11. Toxins... from the EPA...

"Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment when batteries are improperly disposed of. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process."

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/battery.htm

[demosincebirth]

13. That's all well and good. but how many of us do the right thing? I do

it when it's convenient

[Luminous Animal]

15. Well, I do. It's easy enough to save them in a shoebox. I take them in about once every 3 years.

[Tesha]

33. Modern non-rechargeable batteries contain *NONE* of those materials.

They're innocuous in the trash.

Please *DO* continue to recycle your NiCd (Nickel/
Cadmium) and NiMH (Nickel/Metal-Hydride) rechargeable
batteries along with Lead Acid batteries such as are in
your car.

Tesha

[Luminous Animal]

35. Recycling is still recommended in order to reclaim lithium.

[Tesha]

37. Very few people use lithium D, C, AA, AAA or 9V batteries because of the price.

And I honestly don't know if there's enough
lithium in lithium coin cells to make their
recycling worthwhile. But if you know where
to recycle them, more power to you!

Tesha

[Luminous Animal]

39. All we need to do in San Francisco, is put them on top of our trash can in a clear bag.

Managed apartment complexes are required to have a recycling bin. And every Walgreens has a recycling bin. We demanded it. We got it. And, actually, recyclers do reclaim the metals (not just lithium) from batteries and even if it is not worth it, they can be refurbished and reused.

San Francisco has a mandate to be zero waste to landfills by 2020.

[joshcryer]

3. I hate electronics that need an odd number of batteries. Otherwise I use recharables.

I haven't even had to buy a pack of batteries in 2 years due to these sweet NiHMs I got on NewEgg.

[demosincebirth]

7. Yes, but they don't last forever

[frazzled]

18. Rechargeables are the most toxic

Those must be recycled when they're gone. Also hearing aid batteries (zinc air), which release toxic mercury. When my daughter lived at home we'd save up the spent batteries (we'd use 2 every 3 weeks or so) in plastic bags. The recycling would take them. Or the drugstores usually took them for recycling.

[joshcryer]

21. Fair enough, I do have some dead ones but I haven't tossed them or anything.

I'll find a place that will take them for recycling.

[Tesha]

40. NiMH batteries are hardly toxic and their life-cycle benefits are enormous.

Lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are pretty
innocuous too.

NiCd batteries are much less justifiable 'though they're still
the best at short usage, very high output jobs like running
power tools.

If rechargeables had a lower "self-discharge rate" (so they
held a charge for years instead of months), rechargeable
batteries could and should completely replace non-recharge-
able batteries.

Tesha

[Fumesucker]

24. With the right charger an odd number of batteries is not a problem..

I use a Lacrosse BC 9009 charger and it will charge, discharge, measure the capacity and rejuvenate any number of batteries up to four, each cell is handled individually so you can plug in three cells and then one more later and they will all charge correctly, you can even mix AA and AAA cells.

The BC 9009 is no longer available and its replacement is the BC 1000

http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-Battery-Charger-BC1000/dp/B004J6DLD4/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

[JackDragna]

4. There are companies that will take them from you..

..if you mail them. The package costs a few bucks, but it's worth it. Battery acid is really, really toxic stuff, especially once it gets into the groundwater.

[sufrommich]

6. See if your local school will take them. Sometimes they have

recycling programs where the school gets a small amount of money for their recyclables,including batteries.

[cyglet]

9. Some stores have recycling bins

Drug stores, etc. Ikea has them for everything here (cfls, too).

[demosincebirth]

12. I haven't seen them for hazardous items....like batteries

[Luminous Animal]

17. In San Francisco, all Walgreens take them. The garbage company will take them, too

But they need to be in a clear bag and placed on top of the garbage can.

[NYC_SKP]

14. Bust Buy takes old rechargeables, so start using them. Your regular batteries

Your regular single-use batteries can go to:



Safety Kleen3.2mi away

IKEA3.2mi away

Morgan Environmental3.3mi away

Universal Waste Management, Inc.3.7mi away

--Just save them up until you're on an errand headed toward one of the locations above:


Source: Type in your city or zip code at this page: http://1800recycling.com/

:hi:

[demosincebirth]

30. Thanks for the info. You guys are starting to make me feel guilty.

[izquierdista]

16. Turn them into fertilizer

Alkaline batteries aren't "hazardous waste". What I do is dissolve them up in HCl (pool acid) and add one part of the reaction products to ten parts of 0.15M urea solution*. You can then dilute this further, one part in ten parts of water and use it as a fertilizer which contains chelated manganese, zinc, and copper.


Chemical analysis of alkaline batteries can be found here: http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd43/xara.pdf

*also known commonly as "urine".

[WildNovember]

36. wow. that's very cool. so those elements leech out but does the "cover" of the battery remain?

and can it be safely disposed?

I wish I were handy and chemical and mechanical.

[tammywammy]

19. I take them to work and put them in the recycling bin there. n/t

[rug]

20. I'll ask my wife.

[HopeHoops]

22. Standard alkaline batteries can just go in the trash. Other kinds take to Batteries Plus...

... or pretty much anywhere that sells them (computer batteries, UPS batteries, cell phone batteries, etc.)

[PeaceNikki]

23. Batteries Plus will recycle alkaline, too

May not be listed there, but call your local franchise.

http://www.batteriesplus.com/t-batteries-plus-recycles.aspx

[treestar]

27. I have a recycling center that has a barrel for batteries

Maybe get one close to you to have one?

[Gormy Cuss]

28. In CA there are retailers who have barrels for collection.

In the SF Bay area Long's drug stores used to do it and the practice continued when the stores were bought out by CVS. Whole Foods also has a collection barrel.

I live in an area where we can also get rid of them as part of the semi annual reuse/recycle pickups.

[demosincebirth]

32. Not to be flip, but usually when I go to Longs/CVS to purchase something, I, seem

to always forget my dead batterises. Many great ideas from my fellow DU'ers. I'll make a big efftort, now.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. I totally understand. I forget them all the time.

Note though that not all former Longs used to collect batteries and I'm not sure if all the CVS locations do so now.

[Johonny]

29. You can throw them at people during the next Raider game

[petronius]

38. You don't actually have to be at the stadium, right - as long as you

do the throwing during time-span of the game?