If you’re jaded about the recycling industrial complex—and perhaps rightfully so—you might feel unmotivated to spend your time, energy, and possibly money on battery recycling. But you have several good reasons to do so.
For one, it’s safer than just dumping them in the trash. Improperly disposing of batteries can cause fires or explosions. Not only are you putting your own household in harm’s way when you toss batteries in the garbage, but you could be unwittingly risking the safety of sanitation workers who come into contact with your trash after it leaves your doorstep.
Even though some municipalities allow residents to put certain types of batteries in the trash, such as alkaline or carbon-zinc batteries, we still recommend recycling them. It’s simpler than trying to remember which batteries go where, and (even with this handy EPA guide) it’s easy to misread the fine print and confuse one battery type with another.
Trashing your batteries is also bad for local ecosystems. When batteries and other items containing heavy metals or other toxic materials end up in a landfill, they often leach harmful chemicals into local soil and water systems. But more often than not, nonferrous metals—the kind commonly used to make batteries and other electronics—are destined for the trash. For example, in 2018, about 3.4 million tons of aluminum, nickel, zinc, and other nonferrous metals were landfilled, whereas just 2.4 million tons were recycled.
Likewise, batteries may contain metals that can be salvaged and made into new electronics, reducing the overall need to mine more raw materials. This is good for consumers, since mining bottlenecks can lead to shortages that hike up the cost of electronics. Plus, the metal-mining industry has a long track record of human rights violations and is by far the biggest source of toxic chemicals released into the environment annually in the US.
Fortunately, it takes far less energy to recycle most metals than it does to produce them. Metal is highly energy-intensive to mine and process for manufacturing, but it’s generally one of the easiest materials to recycle. And unlike plastic and paper, which degrade each time they’re handled, metals can be recycled indefinitely.
Another great reason to recycle your batteries? It might encourage you to visit a new small business in your community. For example, until I saw it listed on Call2Recycle, I was unaware of a store near me called The Dinosaur Farm that specializes in dinosaur-related toys, books, and other paleontological paraphernalia. Lesson learned: Recycle your batteries, and avoid missing out on dinosaur-themed toy stores.
This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.
