Prevention of Household Battery Waste
To reduce waste, start with prevention. Starting with prevention creates less or no leftover waste to become potentially hazardous waste. The following are steps to take to prevent household battery waste.
- Check to see if you already have the batteries on hand before buying more.
- When suited to the task buy hand operated items that function without batteries.
- Look for the batteries that have less mercury and heavy metals.
- Consider rechargeable batteries. They can be reused repeatedly and can be recycled when no longer keeping a charge.
Where to dispose household batteries (A, AA, AAA, C, D)
Household batteries are not regulated and can be placed in the trash with other household items.
Where to take rechargeable batteries
Rechargeable batteries should have the terminals taped with duct tape or electricians tape and/or placed separately in plastic bags. Contact with other batteries can cause heat, smoke and/or fire - even with little life in the batteries. Precaution should always be used when placed rechargeable batteries together in the same container.
Take rechargeable batteries to a household hazardous waste facility or collection event, or drop them off in battery collection containers.
Benton County Moderate Risk Waste Facility
3102 Twin Bridges Road, Richland
942-7387
Battery collection containers are also located at:
| Richland Public Library | 955 Northgate |
| Richland City Hall | 505 Swift Blvd |
| Richland Community Center | 500 Amon Park Drive |
| Richland Planning & Development | 840 Northgate |
For more information, contact Richland's Moderate Risk Waste Facility, 942-7387.
Types and Uses of Household Batteries
There are two types of batteries:
(1) primary -- those that can not be reused, and
(2) secondary -- those that can be reused.
Primary batteries include alkaline/manganese, carbon-zinc, mercuric-oxide, zinc-air, silver-oxide, and other types of button batteries. Secondary batteries (rechargeable) include lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, and potentially nickel-hydrogen.
Typical Types of Household Batteries
Primary Cells
(Nonrechargeable)Common Uses
Alkaline*
Cassettes players, radios, appliances
Carbon-zinc
Flashlights, toys, etc.
Lithium
Cameras, calculators, watches, computers, etc.
Mercury
Hearing aids, pacemakers, cameras, calculators, watches, etc.
Silver
Hearing aids, watches, cameras, calculators
Zinc
Hearing aids, pagers
Secondary Cells
(Rechargeable)Common Uses
Nickel-cadmium
Cameras, rechargeable appliances such as portable power tools, hand held vacuums, etc.
Small sealed lead-acid
Camcorders, computers, portable radios and tape players, cellular phones, lawn mower starters, etc.
*Some rechargeable alkaline batteries available.
The information below was provided by www.healthgoods.com and the University of Nebraska's Extension Office.
Environmental Hazards of Batteries
People are using more and more household batteries. The average person owns about two button batteries, ten normal (A, AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, etc.) batteries, and throws out about eight household batteries per year. About three billion batteries are sold annually in the U.S. averaging about 32 per family or ten per person.
A battery is an electrochemical device with the ability to convert chemical energy to electrical energy to provide power to electronic devices. Batteries may contain cadmium, mercury, copper, zinc, lead, manganese, nickel, and lithium which may create a hazard when disposed incorrectly.
Batteries may produce the following potential problems or hazards:
- Pollute the lakes and streams as the metals vaporize into the air when burned.
- Contribute to heavy metals that potentially may leach from solid waste landfills.
- Expose the environment and water to lead and acid.
- Contain strong corrosive acids.
- May cause burns or danger to eyes and skin.
In landfills, heavy metals have the potential to leach slowly into soil, groundwater or surface water. Dry cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. In the past, batteries accounted for nearly half of the mercury used in the United States and over half of the mercury and cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.