Recycling a battery!!!

Like it or not, we live in a battery-powered world, and eventually those batteries, even the rechargeable ones, run out of juice and have to be discarded.

But... how exactly do you do that?

Batteries are little metal tubes full of often nasty chemicals and are often regarded as hazardous waste. Some can be recycled, some can't. The important point is to think before you simply toss them in the trash, and that's where this handy web page comes in.

TWICE magazine offers a comprehensive guide to the disposal of virtually every type of battery on the market, available here. It's organized by the basic type of battery -- alkaline, button, Ni-Cad, etc. -- and includes examples of where each of these batteries are used, alternate names, and so on. (Unfortunately the HTML on the page is a little messed up, causing the bullet point sections to be nested; try to ignore this.)

The sheer number of different battery types can be a little daunting, so here's a cheat sheet on how to deal with them when it's time for disposal.

> Alkaline (all types) and carbon-zinc batteries can be disposed of in regular trash, except in California (where they must be recycled) as well as, in the case of carbon-zinc, in one county in Minnesota. Silver-oxide button batteries (as in some hearing aids, watches, and greeting cards) can generally be thrown in regular trash but can also be recycled.

> Lithium- and nickel-based batteries can all be recycled. Nickel-based batteries are particularly hazardous and should never be thrown in the trash.

> Virtually all other battery types -- lead acid, other button-type batteries -- are hazardous waste and should be disposed of in accordance with local laws, which generally means dropping them off at a battery collection center.

Need help finding a place to drop off these batteries that you can't toss in the garbage? TWICE also directs us to the handy Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation website. Just visit this page, punch in your ZIP code, and the site will show you dozens of places near you where batteries are accepted for safe disposal. It's also worth noting that battery collection centers will usually take all your batteries, hazardous or no.

source: Yahoo Tech