7 replies to this topic

[Julie]

What provisions for recycling batteries are available to you? And what is the law on disposing of batteries in a regular dustbin?

In France it is against the law to deposit any type of battery in the regular rubbish bins. Shops that sell anything that uses batteries must provide battery recycling boxes which are regulated by a leading recylcing company.

So shops that sell anything from a wristwatch to a torch to a computer is obliged to have a "Batribox" - anybody can deposit batteries in these boxes even if they have not bought  a battery-powered item or batteries from a specific shop.

Sometimes these "Batriboxes" can be seen in large office buildings and civil buildings which are open to the public such as town halls - so it is easy to pop in with a few depleted batteries.

The system seems to be working very well - children are strong advocates as toy shops have some great educative displays with their "Batriboxes". Any measure that keeps zinc, mercury and lead out of the soil and the water table is good news.

[dconklin]

I am not sure if it is technically illegal to throw them in the garbage since they do not send any notices out letting people know about it.  I do know that we have a bin set up at our county building to put household batteries in.  I only know about this because I used to work for the county's transportation and have seen the bin.  It is open to everybody to dispose of batteries, but like I said they do not send notices to residents about it.  Some people would have to drive up to a half hour away to dispose of them at this building too.

Car batteries are disposed of through the mechanics or stores you get the batteries from.  You do have to pay the shop or store a disposal fee tho.

[Hardison]

The public library in my area recycles the small batteries. Such as AA, AAA, C, etc. For the bigger batteries, a neighboring city has a tocix recyclying day every quarter. They will come out and pick up any toxic stuff such as batteries, computers, printers, etc. They accept materials throughout the year too.

The local Target store also accepts batteries, printer cartilages, mp3 players etc. There are many opportunities to recycle toxic materials in Southern California. There really is no excuse to just throw stuff out anymore.

[Magic Pixel]

There was once a gardening tip somewhere, sorry I can't remember the source, about opening out old batteris slightly and putting them in rose bushes to aid it's growth and flowering with the acidity. But I don't now if that's good for the soil itself in the long run.

[ACSAPA]

We don't have any special places in Miami to recycle batteries. No one even mentions recycling batteries. There are recycling bins outside every house for paper and aluminum but no one mentions what to do with your batteries or paint cans.

[FlanneryCam]

I'm lucky that I live in a city with great recycling programs. We get our compost picked up by the city weekly, have serious restrictions about what can can toss out (only non-food and non-recycled items). And we have close, free recycling centers for things like used car oil, batteries and household waste.

[joeldgreat]

I don't heard any laws here in our country that imposes penalties to consumers who are not disposing their batteries properly. Though many groups are performing educational campaigns, I think it doesn't have any effect at all. And if there will be laws passed, the next problem is how to implement it religiously.

[SheforACT]

Most regular batteries are absolutely fine to throw out with all your other trash.