Green Daily

Rechargeable batteries: where to recycle?

I didn't know the answer until I was listening to Air America on my local radio station (a quick shout out to WHMP in Northampton, Massachusetts!) and during a commercial break I heard Al -- of the television sitcom Home Improvement, a piece of history I'd wholly forgotten -- telling me how important it is to recycle rechargeable batteries.

Just to remind you why it's important to recycle them: Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Lithium Ion (Li-ion) and Small Sealed Lead* (Pb) are all found in batteries. If not recycled, these go into our solid waste stream.

So where can they be recycled?

The short answer is probably at your local hardware store, electronics store, or even cell phone store if the business participates in the Call 2 Recycle program -- something Brad pointed out in his helpful post on how to recycle your old computers, phones, and PDAs.