Where to Donate Batteries

by - Saturday, March 03, 2018

dead batteries recycling recycle


We think of batteries as being trash, and dead weight things we want out of the house as soon as possible, but do not rush these babies to the trash! Here are some things you should know.

Not all batteries are made in the US, but some actually are! Look at Duracell's first. You want to minimize the batteries you buy, because their disposal is tricky, so if you can at least buy ones that have traveled shorter distances you cut down on the negative impact.

Americans throw away about 180,000 tons of batteries a year.

Batteries, as you probably guessed, are pretty terrible for the environment. When waiting for the Bub to be born, we took a child safety class, and they spent a huge chunk of time traumatizingly warning us about batteries. Specifically button batteries. They look like dimes, and if a child eats them, it will look like a dime on x ray, and it will eat through stomachs.

So if batteries and their various juices (including mercury if they were made before 1997) will eat through us, why would we throw them into the trash to pollute our water? How many tons of nasty juices are leeching out of our trash? Does anyone want to drink hot, toxic battery water? Me either.

Luckily, there are still options out there, so if we change our ways we don't have to poison the water. Keep every battery out of the trash from here on out, and try this instead. Once we all know better, we can do better-

Check your Local Home Depot or Lowes- Many stores, like these big box hardware stores, will have bins inside to accept batteries for recycling. Woot for them for using their resources to do something positive.

Call 2 Recycle will accept Alkaline and rechargable batteries for their recycling program now. You can look on the site for drop off options near you, and if you don't see anything, you can find a site that you can mail to.

Battery Solutions will accept any and all batteries from all over the United States. You order a pail from them, fill it with your used batteries, and send it back. Might be perfect for businesses and schools as well!

Batteries Plus Bulbs recycles batteries AND light bulbs (mostly out of their stores). So cool to see companies that are thriving from doing the right thing, and you can use their services to lessen your environmental impact at little cost to yourself. Check it out if you also use lightbulbs (so, everyone, because if you are reading this you probably don't live in a powerless cabin in the woods).

Big Green BoxThis super cool resource will send you a box, you fill it with things that need recycled, and you send it back. Easy as pie, and might be perfect if you have a LOT of batteries to recycle (maybe do it once a year as part of spring cleaning?).

See? So many options! And this one may not count toward donating to others, but just by sending these batteries to be recycled, you are keeping that much more toxicity out of the earth. So go you, that is some amazing stewardship!

Where to Recycle Batteries



Want to make your home greener? No matter the size or location, you can limit your waste and make your house have a more positive impact on the environment. Check out the Green Home Page for thousands of ideas on how to do it. 

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