

I recommend selecting “batteries” then the most-specific category that appears in the drop-down menu (such as “alkaline batteries”) for best results. Both let you search by keyword or by selecting a common type of waste listed on the left side of the page. Earth911 and GreenCitizen have nearly identical interfaces that allow you to locate recycling facilities for household waste of all kinds.(Nevertheless, you should independently confirm that your preferred location accepts the kind of batteries you want to recycle.)

You can filter by the latter category to find facilities that also accept batteries, since most recyclers that collect battery-containing items such as phones take batteries as well.

Unlike plastics, which are notoriously difficult and unprofitable to recycle, recycling the metals found in most batteries is simpler and often legally mandated, and it has become more lucrative as demand for electronics continues to rise. I was also skeptical that recycling would actually do anything, having spent decades dutifully recycling plastic with seemingly little impact (from 1980 to 2018, just 7% of all plastic generated was recycled in the US).įortunately, the landscape of options for battery recycling has evolved significantly as I’ve eased into my thirties.
#Does best buy have aaaa batteries how to
I wanted to spare my spent batteries from the trash can (where they could potentially catch fire or explode) and keep them out of the landfill (where they could leach harmful chemicals into local ecosystems), but I wasn’t sure how to recycle them. As my collection grew, I made myself feel better about this battery boneyard by imagining it as a tiny cabinet of curiosities-with corroded AAs, an assortment of button-cell batteries, and an old smartphone standing in for precious objets d’art and reticulated skeletons-but in reality I just didn’t know what to do with them. For most of my young adulthood, I kept an empty pretzel container in the back of my closet that I filled with spent batteries.
