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Batteries
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Many of the 2.5 billion household batteries purchased each year are discarded. With the use of batteries for cellular phones and portable computers, there is an increased demand for recycling alternatives.
What You Can Do:
Most
batteries are recyclable, though collection programs are difficult to
find. Contact your local government first to find out if a drop-off location
exists near you. If you have cellular phone or computer batteries, call
your local dealer - many of them collect batteries for recycling. If not,
hold onto your used batteries until a household hazardous waste collection
event is held and drops them off there. It is important to keep batteries
away from all fire to prevent explosions.
To encourage businesses to recycle and properly dispose of batteries, and the EPA has designated batteries, such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and small sealed lead-acid batteries, as Universal Wastes.
Rechargeable batteries,
made from Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium
Ion (Li-ion), Small Sealed Lead (Pb) can be recycled at participating
retailers around the country.
For More Information:
The following links provide information on recycling batteries.
The batteries section of the EPA Commodities web page,
provides the following:
• basic facts on generation and recycling rates,
• the recycling process,
• State and Federal regulations,
• links to industry associations and other information sources.
The Batteries section of the EPA
Product Stewardship site , has additional information on Redesign,
Reuse and Recycling.
Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation
