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Comment by notJim | Hacker News Reader

Is there an easy way to get rid of rechargeables once they're dead? I have a bunch of them sitting in a drawer, because it's a pain to go to the city recycle facility. I highly doubt most people go to the effort. This is the big drawback to alkaline batteries for me, since those can be thrown away in the trash.

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Those "dead" rechargeable batteries may have more life in them. Don't throw them away yet!

If your charger won't charge the battery anymore (showing the battery as "null"), there's a way to make it charge again.[1]

The technique is basically to use a paperclip to connect the positive terminals of a working and "dead" battery while they're both in the charger, only (unlike in the video) I do this with the charger unplugged from the wall socket. This only needs to be done for a few seconds for the "dead" battery to come back to life.

I used to discard many rechargeable batteries that I thought were dead before I discovered this trick. Since I started doing this, I've been able to keep using my old rechargeable batteries continuously, except that after a while they seem to hold less and less charge, so eventually I do get rid of them, but I no longer do so simply because my charger tells me they're "null".

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFapDUSOgnY

Whatever you do, do NOT do this with lithium ion batteries. At low voltages, chemical side-reactions start to occur which result in dendrite formation which can pierce the membrane, shorting the battery: the result is fire. LiIon batteries generally have protection that permanently blow a fuse if the voltage goes below a minimum safe voltage, but raw 18650 cells often do not. The video above refers to NiMH cells. Afaik, this is safe to do for NiMH.

I don’t know that “can be thrown away” means “should”. IIRC, “disposable” batteries still contain mercury and other nasty shite. We take our alkalines to the community recycle day thing.

Most alkaline batteries manufactured today don't contain any mercury. Maybe since like 1996.

http://www.rayovac.com/products/batteries/educate/faqs.aspx

https://www.duracell.com/en-us/help/faq/do-your-batteries-co...

https://www.energizer.com/batteries/energizer-max-alkaline-b...

In Germany everyone who sells batteries has to take them back as well. I thought that was the case everywhere...? Also throwing alkalines into the trash doesn't sound right.

When it comes to recycling/sorting, it’s safe to say Germany is at the top, and everyone else is some mild to severe level lower.

Everywhere in the EU should do something similar, as part of the WEEE directive.

Sweden has pretty good recycling too, most things can be sorted within walking distance in bigger towns (guess 500+ people). Many garbage rooms have spaces for batteries and fluorescent lights.

A number of big-box stores will let you properly dispose of them at the door - Best Buy and Target are two examples that come to mind.

Staples accepts all manner of used electronics for recycling, I just brought a sack of dead scanners, LCD panels, and about four years worth of dead AA's and coin batteries.

Note that in EU alkaline batteries should not be thrown in mixed waste, so that is moot point around here.

I use the bins right by the entrance of Lowe's and Home Depot stores. They also have bins for compact florescent bulbs.

I wish they had a bin for tube fluorescents - I want to change out my shop and garage lights for LED tubes, but I don't know where to get rid of my old tubes (short of waiting for a hazardous waste drive day - I always miss those).

Try Ikea if there is one in your area. My local ones all have bins for tubes and CFLs.

Note that I am in Vancouver BC which also has numerous recycling depots.

The public library near us accepts them. No idea how common this is, but it is worth it to check yours.

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