Close to throwing in the trash!

I was in allentown 2 months ago and Home Depot took my batteries in the bin right at the front door.

All of the home depots I have visited also take rechargeable batteries for recycling, though some have signs that they don’t take alkalines. The bins are usually next to or behind customer service, if not they are near one of the exits/entrances. Bins are orange, usually with a roll of clear plastic bags attached to put your batteries in - with lithium ions, it is a good idea to tape them and/or bag them to keep them from shorting out/catching fire before tossing them in the bin.

I am not sure if these employees are misinformed OR it depends on which store[Home Depot/Lowes ect.] we visit.

I called Home depot and they said NO and so did Lowes the FIRST time I called,Lowes is the closest to my house I am heading there now!

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=county+hazardous+toxic+waste

Add your county name as a quoted string to limit the search result

Because: garbage truck fire lithium battery - Google Search

Thanks for asking rather than just trashing the bad cells.
You’re a hero to your local trash handlers, who risk injury from this sort of thing in the trash.

The employees are misinformed.

Just go there personally and you should see what they can do.

yeah, most likely uniformed employees.

link to home depot battery recycling program:

lowes:

Just got home. Even had a beautiful young woman assist/direct me to the proper bins at Lowes! :smiley:

Everything is back in order! Glad I have another place even though I had to drive 12 total miles instead of 2 miles[Radio Shack/Staples] where I use to go.

I was determined NOT to throw these in the trash. I taped the ends, then bundled a few together w/ tape and then taped the zip lock baggy so it looked like a protected battery pack!!

Before I started this thread, when I was researching, I did come across those trash truck fires where people threw the batteries in their trash,resulting in those fires. :smiling_imp:

I wonder what the net environmental benefit of recycling batteries is, if someone has to drive 12 miles in order to do it.

Maybe the better thing to do is really just trash them?

(Yeah, I know you can recycle them only when you’re already in the area for something else.)

Not setting the local trash depot on fire probably counts as an environmental benefit :slight_smile:

Maybe, or maybe a benefit for landfills? I used to live in a small town where the local dump would “mysteriously” burn every time it got near full capacity. Town officials were all very shocked by this, and always promised to look into it when the ministry of the environment would ask what was going on, but they assured them it was probably local kids.

I think you might just be running into idiot employees that have no idea and are trained to say no instead of yes [to whatever] so there isn’t angry people showing up to the store for something that really doesn’t exist… Rather be wrong in that way than say yes and that be the wrong answer ya know.

I’ve called some local stores (home depot and Lowes) and they say no but there’s a clearly labeled battery deposit box out front. Often these battery recycling boxes are maintained not by the location they’re in but by the actual company doing the recycling and in those cases it makes sense the phone answering employee doesn’t know what’s up.

Have you actually went to any of the big box home improvement stores in your area? I don’t know of a single one around here who doesn’t take batteries for recycling.

Here in Aust.
The local dumps have a Battery recycle station in every one I’ve been to.
I go there for my Laptop Battery packs. One of the crew says “help yourself” Most of the others say. Once in here they dead to the public.
I often wonder what they actually DO with them???
They something similar to Nuclear Waste.
NOBODY wants them.

The way we humans going. If we don’t blow it up first.
Most of the planets materials will be outside the crust instead of inside of it…
And it’ll implode on itself hey. Chuckle.
A big hollow ball on fire.
Hmm. Maybe not such a bad idea the way we have turned out nowadays. Everybody fighting/killing everybody else.

Bloody religion is probably the worst,
Most destructive thing ever developed by humans.
Radicals on BOTH sides. Right through the ages.

Maybe stop calling ahead, if they’re already recycling just leave them in the bin

Someone will take over from there.

Just my take on the bureaucracy

If they require you to pay for recycling let them figure it out after that.

If they don’t end up in a landfill somewhere, they pay for China to take them. The Chinese re-wrap them and sell them back to us to use in our flashlights.

Respect roberto, many would have give in and chucked in the bin. Glad you persevered, but i would expect nothing less :slight_smile: . Hope all is well.

Thanks…nice to see you!

What kind of dog is that on the “pet food” thread? A Cane Corso or Great Dane? :wink:

The ultimate Re-use, part of RRR. Some sucker gets a 10,000 mAh Ultrafire battery.

Lithium ion batteries are not considered “toxic waste”. If you want to completely kill the batteries, mix up some brine water in a bucket, toss them in and let them sit for 24hrs (outdoors), and they will be completely dead.

It’s the billions of alkaline batteries being dumped that is the problem, not lithium ion. The lifespan of a single 18650 is like using 1200+ AA alkaline batteries. Much more environmentally sensible

According to the U.S. government, lithium ion batteries aren’t an environmental hazard. “Lithium Ion batteries are classified by the federal government as non-hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream,” says Kate Krebs at the National Recycling Coalition. While other types of batteries include toxic metals such as cadmium, the metals in lithium ion batteries - cobalt, copper, nickel and iron - are considered safe for landfills or incinerators (Interestingly enough, lithium ion batteries contain an ionic form of lithium but no lithium metal).

Yeah.

Imagine the space and weight that it takes, and the amount of fuel used to transport it.

Sorry missed this, and you! Yes a cane corso bitch.