Battery Recycling - Recycling Electric Kids Car Batteries
It’s a serious downer when the batteries run out on the toys I love to use—but let’s be real. I’m never going to stop loving the gadgets, so batteries (and what to do with them once I’ve sucked the life out of them with my play) are going to be a part of my life forever. So what do we do with them once they are deader than your hopes of sleeping in on the weekend, mom and dad? What's our battery disposal battle plan?
It’s a serious downer when the batteries run out on the toys I love to use—but let’s be real. I’m never going to stop loving the gadgets, so batteries (and what to do with them once I’ve sucked the life out of them with my play) are going to be a part of my life forever. So what do we do with them once they are deader than your hopes of sleeping in on the weekend, mom and dad? What's our battery disposal battle plan?
Battery Disposal is Kind of a Pain—Or So I Thought
So, I thought this whole battery disposal thing was going to be a really easy thing. I mean, when I’m done with the juice box, it’s a pretty simple process. But batteries are different. Did you know that battery disposal is more than just putting them in the trash? Well, there goes my first plan. You also can’t bury them in the backyard or throw them in the river (but who does that? Even I know that trash doesn’t go in the river! Bad battery disposal plan. Bad.). I didn’t know why you couldn’t bury them though—it’s because it can be really bad for the environment and for public health. And it’s against federal law (40 CFR part 273)! Yikes. Every state has its own law on top of that—so this battery disposal stuff is serious. So you can’t throw them away, you can’t bury them, you can’t just leave them on your
least-favorite teacher’s doorstep and run—so what CAN you do with these beasts?
The Duh Answer: Battery Recycling!
With all of the time we spend talking about recycling in school, you would think that I would have realized the answer: battery recycling! Most places have local special waste drop-off sites, where you can take things that you can’t just toss in the trash (paint, batteries, electronics). Most of these battery recycling sites are run by the local Department of Sanitation (the trash people—yay!), and they will have battery recycling information for different types of batteries: Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion), or Small Sealed Lead (Pb) weighing 2 pounds or less.
Most of the batteries we use around here are less than two pounds, right? So to get involved in this battery recycling program, all we need to do is call the local sanitation department or, better, check out their webpage. (Can you say screen time?! Let’s do it!) They may have the dates and locations for battery recycling listed there, just in case it's not an everyday thing. If not, I read that we can also try to participate in battery recycling with some stores, like an auto parts store or the place where we bought the new tires on the swagger wagon. If they sell Sealed Lead Acid Batteries, they will usually accept a couple of dead ones for battery recycling.
Hey! Before we go recycle these things, can we make sure that we wrap this thing in a plastic bag or wrap some electrical tape around those contacts? Because, apparently, it can be unsafe if we don’t—and we don’t want to turn battery recycling into one of those viral videos about being an idiot.
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