I know I’ve read and heard that it’s bad to simply throw used batteries in the garbage. But I can’t remember why… so I have two questions.
What exactly is so bad about throwing out batteries? Is it the battery acid? Does it not break down or something?
And more importantly, how does one go about disposing of batteries? I remember my dad had a bin at work he’d take them to, but that’s not available to me now; I haven’t seen anything comparable to put them in. (Related question: if throwing out batteries is so bad, why don’t they make it easier to dispose of them properly?)
Batteries are loaded with toxic chemicals and heavy metals. It used to be (technically) illegal to throw them into the trash in California, but htere has been a fairly recent staute allowing normal folks to throw them out without fear of governmental retaliation. A large enough amount of batteries thrown out altogether would be a serious environmental concern. As it is, they are so widely dispersed into the trash stream that they don’t cause a lot of problems.
Unless I’m wrong.
It all depends on the kind of batteries your talking about. Most batteries are not terribly toxic but lead acid batteries are nasty and worst of all are nickle-cadmium batteries. Cadmium is really something you want to keep out of your water. I think that people who sell NiCads are, in principle, supposed to accept old ones for recycling but good luck finding someone to take them. I mail them back to the vendor.
Alkaline batteries used to be made with mercury and other heavy metals, so throwing them in the trash was a bad idea. However, that is no longer the case. If you have normal energizer, duracell, etc. AA-D cells, that you’ve bought in the last 5 years or so, it is perfectly safe to throw them out with your regular trash.
Now the rechargeable batteries (NiCds, nickel metal hydrides, lithiums, and the small lead-acid variety) are a different story. They DO contain heavy metals, and should be recycled instead of thrown into the trash.
A group of battery manufacturers got together and started the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC)to help make sure these batteries get recycled. In the US, all Radio Shack stores and several other national chains collect rechargable batteries for recycling. National chains in Canada have done the same. The RBRC website http://www.rbrc.org will let you search for locations near you.