How to Dispose of an Alkaline Battery
There are several theories about disposal of alkaline batteries. Some say that alkaline batteries collected in massive amounts are dangerous if transported because they may come back to life from the electrical charge of so many batteries. Others say that the alkaline batteries are dangerous to the environment, but many companies have removed the mercury and other harmful substances from the batteries. Here are several ways to dispose of alkaline batteries. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Call the department of sanitation in the community where you live. Ask if there are special waste pick up dates or if there is a special waste drop-off site close by.
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Throw batteries in your household trash. The trash has a lower concentration of batteries and dead batteries are less likely to come back to life and cause damage. Until better disposal ways are discovered, use your trash can.
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Separate large quantities of batteries before throwing them in your household trash. This will help to prevent the batteries from recharging.
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Keep batteries away from fire. Never dispose of batteries in the fire. They can explode and cause injury to you and the environment.
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Ask your local civic leaders where to dispose of the batteries. The discussions on how to dispose of alkaline batteries are rapidly changing and the civic leaders will be the ones who know what the best way to dispose of the batteries in your community are.
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Comments
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theperfectfit
Feb 24, 2011
The topic of disposing of batteries and CLR bulbs is ridiculous at this time. I am hearing that they will be taking CLR bulbs off the market because of the mercury that is going into the landfills. My local borough told me that I can take my used batteries to two places in the state of Pennsylvania. One near Harrisburg and one near Allentown on one Saturday in May and one in September between the hours of 9-1. Everything that the government gets it's hands into gets screwed up. Bah humbug! -
rocklet
Apr 21, 2009
what he probably means is:Discarded batteries are generally not completely dead; they just have too little charge to be useful alone or in small quantities. When a lot of batteries are together in one bag or in the trash etc, and they come into close contact, it is possible that the charges will aggregate and there could be a spark or enough heat to cause a problem.You are correct--why throw them away? I knowof a guy in Bonaire who runs his home appliances from big stashes of discarded batteries that he collects and puts together. Add them up and they're quite potent.The writer of this piece did not make him/herself very clear in this one item.
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asdfasdf58
Nov 28, 2007
"The trash has a lower concentration of batteries and dead batteries are less likely to come back to life and cause damage." How do you suppose the batteries will come back to life? Will the chemical reactions of a primary battery spontaneously reverse themselves somehow? Or will they become some kind of battery zombie? If batteries really recharged spontaneously, why throw them out at all?
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asdfasdf58
Nov 28, 2007
"The trash has a lower concentration of batteries and dead batteries are less likely to come back to life and cause damage." How do you suppose the batteries will come back to life? Will the chemical reactions of a primary battery spontaneously reverse themselves somehow? Or will they become some kind of battery zombie? If batteries really recharged spontaneously, why throw them out at all?
