Is battery recycling really recycling?

[gmark2000]

Do you mean non-rechargable or non-recyclable?

Yeah, I really meant non-rechargeable. I've got a ton of alkaline, lithium and carbon batteries from all my kids toys (and my toys too).

[craftsman]

For all batteries, chemicals and the like, people should check with their local regional government - ie city hall -. Most regions have local recycling programs as well as disposal programs for motor oil, paints, drugs.... One stop to the regional recycling center will be more environmentally friendly (not to mention saving money on gas and time) than going to 2 or 3 places...

[theonlytitania]

most cits call this Household Special Waste (HSW) or Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) most large city's have a drop off depot there is no cost in the city of London (where I live) to drop off paint, turpentine, gasoline, batteries, cleaners, bleach, pesticides, poisons, acids, drain cleaners, oil, propane tanks, etc

find your city web site and see if your city recycles.

http://www.london.ca/Cityhall/EnvSer...pots.htm#hours

http://www.toronto.ca/garbage/programs.htm

disposal of any unused medications can be taken back to the drug store & they will properly dispose of them.

[brute33]

I've got about 20lbs of used/dead non-recyclable batteries collecting in a bag in my office because I didn't want to dump them in the garbage. Who can I take these to??

the source by cc

[almostfreeman]

CBC Marketplace investigates battery recycling in Canada http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/1..._not_included/

What to do with the dead ones

1. Buy Rechargeable batteries. They last longer and can be recycled.
Rechargeable Batteries are used in many portable devices, including cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, electric toothbrushes, power tools and many others. You can also find them sold separately for use in any household item.

2. Don’t throw any batteries in the garbage.
Take non-rechargeable batteries to your local hazardous waste depot site. Alkaline batteries contain potassium hydroxide, which is corrosive. Handle corroded batteries carefully; potassium hydroxide can burn if exposed to wet skin.

3. Recycle your rechargeable batteries.
Rechargeable batteries can contain highly-toxic cadmium, nickel and lead. Call the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation at 1-888-224-9764 to find out where to take them.

4. Call your mayor. Encourage your local municipality to recycle all batteries.
In California a law prohibiting residents from throwing batteries in the trash came into effect in February 2006. California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control determined that, due to their hazardous content, the disposal of all household batteries should be prohibited. The same year the European Union passed a directive requiring that all member states collect and recycle used batteries. A collection rate of at least 25% must be reached by 2012. This law comes into effect in September 2008.

5. Organize your own battery blitz.
Port Perry and the surrounding township of Scugog collected 29,455 batteries in just two weeks. Try to top that!

[Grunchy]

I stopped by the future shop here in Calgary (Deerfoot Meadows location) and wow, the recycling box had been removed. So I walked in with a big bag of old batteries to customer service, there was a brief anxious moment while everyone wrung their hands and someone piped up "we don't take liquid waste any more".

So, no more liquid waste at future shop. Or at least that location.
Actually I've got a bunch of motor oil, old R/C nitro fuel, antifreeze, power wheels gel cells, etc. so I'm just going to drop it all off at the landfill.

http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server....ff+Program.htm

Oh: and they say that modern dry-cell batteries have much less hazardous materials in them, so just chuck your old batteries in with the trash.

[blahing]

I think they're incinerated after they're broken up into different parts, Teck recycles the batteries at their trail facility in BC which is a smelting plant where they incinerate electronic wastes. I'm just guessing on this, but I'm fairly sure about the burning.

[mtl4]

3. Recycle your rechargeable batteries.
Rechargeable batteries can contain highly-toxic cadmium, nickel and lead. Call the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation at 1-888-224-9764 to find out where to take them.

There are quite a few types of rechargable batteries out now so not all of them contain cadmium, nickel or lead.

Different types of common rechargable batteries:

NiCad - Up until the mid 1990s, Ni-Cds had an overwhelming majority of the market share for rechargeable batteries in consumer electronics. They are difficult to recycle due to heavy metals involved in the battery's manufacturing.

NiMh - NiMH cells are particularly advantageous for high current drain applications including most hybrid vehicles on the road currently.

NiZn - These batteries are an excellent replacement for electronic products that were designed to use alkaline 1.5V primary cells. They also use no heavy/toxic metals (mercury, lead or cadmium), or metal hydrides (rare earth metals) that are difficult to recycle.

LA and SLA - One of the oldest and most widely used battery technologies the lead-acid (LA) and sealed lead-acid (SLA) batteries are used in everything from UPS, kids toys, autos and many others. Lead-acid battery recycling is one of the most successful recycling programs in the world.

Li-ion - Lithium ion batteries are primarily used because of their ability to be molded into almost any shape, relatively light weight and have no recharge memory. Lithium ion can be recycled relatively easily.

Rechargable Alkaline - This type of battery is best suited for use in low-drain devices such as remote controls, or for devices that are used periodically such as flashlights, television remotes, wireless keyboards, portable radios, etc. Suffer from similar recycling issues as regular alkaline batteries and may contain heavy metals like NiCads.

If you have questions you can call the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation at 1-888-224-9764 to find out where best to take the type of battery you need to recycle.

[Keigotw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJL...eature=related

[mtl4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJL...eature=related

What on earth does this have to do with battery recycling?

[AV-Fishing]

THROW THEM OUT in the garbage. SO WHAT??? It's garbage!

Just toss it out .... you're wasting time looking for places to recycle and wasting gas to travel to places (ie. ummm ... recycle one thing but polluting with gas!) ...

Have you people ever thought about how much gas is being wasted when you start your engine to get to a place and then shut off the engine just to drop off the batteries for recycling ... and then start your engine again?? DUMB PEOPLE!

[ofdoom]

Battery recycling us easily done through the www.call2recycle.ca program in BC, Manitoba and Ontario (coming to Quebec soon), they accept rechargeable and single use batteries as well as old cell phones.

To the previous posters suggestion that people waste gas driving old batteries around, I can't imagine that anyone makes a special trip across town just for their batteries, I always take mine to the bins at Rona when I'm going to shop at Rona anyway. Now how much money and energy is being wasted at the landfill treating leachate because it contains hazardous chemicals that could easily be recycled is a much better question?