Recycle Your Old Batteries

Batteries are commonly used in homes. They are very useful in terms of appliances, gadgets and other electronic devices. Studies shows that Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools.¹ Most of these batteries are single use, or dry-cell, and the average person in the U.S. discards 8 of these per year. Any states consider the average battery to be “hazardous waste” because they contain toxic heavy metals such as nickel, mercury and lead.

If they are not properly discarded, they can pollute lakes and streams, as their metal vaporizes when burned; they can leach toxins from solid waste landfills into our soil.

In order to save money replace your single-use batteries to rechargeable batteries. This way you can also reduce the amount of batteries going to the landfill.

Most common batteries used at home are as follows:

Alkaline: Single-Use (also available as rechargeable). Most often found in stereos, radios, and appliances.
Carbon-zinc: Single-Use. Most often found in flashlights and toys.
Lithium: Single-Use. Most often found in cameras, calculators, watches, and computers.
Nickel-cadmium (NiCd): Rechargeable. Most often used in low- to moderate-discharge devices such as scanners, portable radios, cordless phones and power tools.
Nickel metal hydride (NiMH): Rechargeable. Most often used in high-discharge devices like portable power tools, digital cameras, cell phones and laptops.

Recycling batteries can be done through giving them to recycling stations. Recycling batteries or disposing of them properly will reduce unnecessary toxins in our environment. In other places, it is illegal to throw them away.

Also, batteryrecycling.com can also help you in your recycling process. All you need to do is store all your used batteries in a box , and they will take care of it for you.

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