If you live in a household like mine, a good battery is hard to find. Wii and XBox 360 controllers and wireless computer mouse and keyboard are the main culprits thanks to excessive usage by an 11-year-old and his buddies on their many missions to slay evil creatures set to invade Earth. It's clearly a noble mission they take on, but my wallet struggles to continue funding my household's Earth Defense Battery Budget. And the used batteries are doing no one any good if we throw them in the trash.
Americans purchase nearly 3 billion drycell batteries every year—I think my son purchases 1 billion of them. If you've got kids who get noisy, plastic toys for holiday and birthday gifts, I know your shopping list too often reads: juice, bread, batteries . . . Aside from the cost, the problem is heavy metals from batteries are bad for the environment when they seep into soil, air and groundwater from landfills. Recycling them can prevent that and save resources because the recovered plastic and metals from used batteries can be used to make new ones.
So, here's the first thing I suggest if you're going to try and be a better battery consumer. Definitely don't throw batteries in the trash. I keep a bag of all my Earth Defender's used batteries. Then:
- Some stores with battery recycling drop-off areas have admitted trashing the batteries they collect. Though this is no recycling guarantee, if this is your only option, it's still better odds than throwing them in your trash. In my city I have dropped batteries off at Rite Aid and Staples.
- An actual city/town recycling center will properly dispose of the batteries. Check online for drop off areas in your town.
