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Comment by bedast | Hacker News Reader

I feel like there's not enough easily accessible information in the wild about what you're supposed to do with old electronics, and especially batteries. You're not supposed to throw any type of battery in the trash, let alone ones that get really angry when abused. And places that used to take old batteries seem to be refusing them now. I have a small box of old batteries I've been looking to dispose of and I'm running out of places to try and give them to.

It especially doesn't help that electronics, including with non-replaceable batteries, including those that get angry when abused, are being designed to be disposable to begin with.

And yeah, I know there's a high level of apathy about the problem with the masses. Even though the information can be, for the most part, found, people just don't care enough.

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I think part of the problem is that the rules are just kinda... stupid? There is absolutely no reason why regular alkaline batteries can't end up in household garbage. They don't contain heavy metals or anything else that'd make them dangerous.

The rules are basically like this because the regulators figured you're too dumb to know which types of batteries are bad for the environment (lead-acid, the now-obsolete Ni-Cd, less significantly NiMH). And sure, better-tailored rules would confuse some folks, but I bet that compliance would be higher for the really bad stuff.

Alkaline batteries contain manganese dioxide, which is certainly not as bad as the rechargeable types but still is a health hazard in enough quantity. "Heavy duty" (zinc-carbon) has the same concern AFAIK

At least in nyc alkaline batteries do go in the normal trash.

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/harmful-produc...

> There is absolutely no reason why regular alkaline batteries can't end up in household garbage.

Years ago mercury was common in alkalines, they were banned in that use case in 1996: https://www.epa.gov/mercury/mercury-batteries The collection bins that were in my local grocery stores went away within a few years of that.

> The rules are basically like this because the regulators figured you're too dumb to know which types of batteries are bad for the environment

No everyone is as smart as you.

Not everyone cares as much as you.

Not everyone has the time or energy as you.

The rules are designed to solve the problem of hazardous and toxic battery chemistries with as little friction as possible.

Yep, and in my experience they just toss everything in the trash anyways.

Not only that, but disposal is painful. In my city i have to drive to the disposal centre 30-45 mins away on a specific day of the month.

So yeah, naturally people don’t do that.

In my city we have these big clothing donation bins in the corner of the parking lot at most major strip malls: Example: https://patch.com/img/cdn/users/82019/2013/06/raw/d5b3360843...

With scrap batteries being worth 5-50 cents per pound it would be worth just sticking a handful of these, but labeled as "used battery drop off point" in high visibility areas. It won't stop people from maliciously throwing away batteries but would remove the lazy factor.

I hate to break it to you, but "clothing and shoe donation" bins in mall parking lots are generally commercial enterprises, rather than non-profits or charities, and I suppose people get good feels from dropping off there while they're shopping, but the community would be better served if you gave direct to a charity such as St. Vincent de Paul Society Thrift Stores.

As for scrap batteries being tossed into a bin at a mall, I'm not seeing that end well. It is more or less trivial to look up recycle facilities in your area and take stuff to the appropriate drop-off. Personally, I take eWaste into Best Buy or Staples, and my own city government runs a large recycling center that will take almost anything.

https://earth911.com/

That website lists at least two locations near me that no longer exist, and the entries show they were last updated over 12 years ago.

> It is more or less trivial to look up recycle facilities in your area and take stuff to the appropriate drop-off.

It’s far from trivial if you don’t own a car, which is probably part of the problem in NYC.

same. my local drop off is one day a month at the local prison which is ~25 minutes away. and commercial store that takes items for recycling is twice that distance.

Wow i'm curious why prison?

I assume because it's "next door" to the landfill, so a lot of the logistics is already nearby. It also doesnt interfere with a bunch of civilians showing up and getting in the way of large, commercial trucks and regular landfill traffic.

Slave labor, most likely.

I go to Best Buy or Ikea

Best Buy may not take them if the battery is visibly damaged. I tried to dispose of a laptop with swelled battery and was refused.

In my case, both are the same distance, but you're right their hours are better!

Even if you know you're not supposed to just toss batteries in the trash, getting them to a recycling center can be a pain. Each borough runs, I believe, a single hazardous items drop off day per year -- are people really supposed to hold onto batteries for an average of six months?

It turns out that Staples, Lowe's, and Home Depot will generally take your batteries for you, but I've never seen this advertised anywhere.

I have a box of batteries I need to dispose of that I haven't just tossed in the garbage.

My local Home Depot used to take batteries, but only non-lithium ion batteries. And sometime last year they stopped accepting any batteries.

I still haven't found a local place that I can easily access to get rid of these things. And I'm tired of keeping them around.

Ironically in my area at least (NC) this is handled better in my parent's rural area than it is in the [small] city where I live with city garbage and recycling pick up. In their county (which is all rural) each community has a small facility that collects garbage and recycling, and each facility has collection bins for electronics, batteries, florescent bulbs, etc. I just googled to see what I'm supposed to do with these items, and apparently the city holds a "hazardous waste day" once a year which is usually a madhouse... so I'm guessing that 75+% of that stuff ends up in the normal garbage.

I'm from NC as well, and moved from a major city to a rural area. For me, both have similar disposal options. In the city, you had to go to a trash drop-off center to dispose of batteries (same place you'd take used oil or other hazardous waste, as well as regular trash or even yard debris). I think the difference is, in the city you have trash pickup and can't just toss batteries in with the trash or recycle. Whereas out in the country you have to take everything to a drop-off center, so you're probably more likely to dispose of batteries properly since you don't need to take an extra trip to do so.

Yeah, there's quite a few smaller municipalities that hold a hazard day or a e-waste collection day. But yeah, they're normally crazy. I wish there were more common collection areas, especially for batteries. Post offices or libraries with collection boxes that are "safe" would be great. Boxes that won't melt, will vent pressure, and maybe filled with a bunch of sand that the batteries get buried in.

Also there's a ton of e-waste that's still usable! e-waste days at regular intervals where people could trade could result in a lot of stuff being reused.

> I feel like there's not enough easily accessible information in the wild about what you're supposed to do with old electronics, and especially batteries.

Here in Norway it is in principle rather easy. The law requires shops that sell electronics, batteries, light bulbs and such to accept and handle such goods for recycling.

So, if you can buy it there, you can deliver it for recycling there.

There's also plenty of information about this in various ads, physical and social media, so hard to not know.

Yet people throw batteries and whatnot right in the trash, or worse. Some people just don't care about others, is my conclusion.

In Brazil where I live, there are laws requiring battery manufacturers to collect (almost all) spent batteries, preventing them from getting in landfills. So finding battery disposal bins in buildings and so on has become common. (classic market failure!)

I put all electronic stuff that has no resale value in a box and then once a year drop it at an Apple store. I trust Apple to do the right thing as they have a reputation to uphold. They take 3rd party stuff as well and batteries etc.

"It’s always best to consult with your local waste management service to learn the best and safest way to deal with dead batteries. One thing they will certainly not advise is putting them in plastic soft drink bottles and chucking them in canals.." https://japantoday.com/category/crime/kyoto-man-arrested-for...

In theory every store that sells rechargeable batteries in NYC is also supposed to accept them for disposal.

I've found that occasionally true... but as you say for things like laptops without removable batteries it feels a little weird to just leave them in the piles by the door that many of these stores have.

In San Mateo, CA we were instructed to dispose of batteries by simply placing them atop the bin in a clearly labeled plastic bag on the usual trash pick-up day.

Recology was the organization handling the recycling IIRC...

Edit: Yep!

https://www.recology.com/recology-san-mateo-county/hazardous...

In the UK every bigger grocery store has a bin for old batteries, disposing batteries is trivial.

In Finland I think even the smaller stores have a red carboard a box hidden somewhere... For electronics bit harder, but still should not be impossible.

There was even one on every floor of my previous office (at a national UK retailer known for selling pig-shaped gummy sweets)

Don't even get me started on trying to dispose of long fluorescent tubes. I've got an eight-footer I can't get rid of. There is absolutely NOBODY that takes them for recycling in my area.

> Don't even get me started on trying to dispose of long fluorescent tubes.

I replaced those in my garage with some LED lights, long overdue. I put the light fixtures on the curb a scrapper came and picked them up quickly...but left all the lights.

I found out the local Home Depot took them on certain days, so I loaded them up in the van. The wrong way to do it would be to put a long strip of packaging tape along the light and smash it...then put it in a bag.

I'm here wondering how "wrong" that wrong way would be... I have a few tubes to get rid of as well, and my local trash/recycle drop-off won't take them.

Works on my machine. Even w/o the tape.

>You're not supposed to throw any type of battery in the trash

I thought alkaline batteries were fine? There are no heavy metals

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