You’re Probably Not Getting Rid of Your Dead Batteries the Right Way

You’re Probably Not Getting Rid of Your Dead Batteries the Right Way

After the close of the silly season, it’s only natural that many of us find ourselves pulled by an urge to clean house. Whether it’s getting rid of old pieces of tech or finally deciding to tidy the garage, a deep clean often results in a pile of stuff you need to rid yourself of, some of which are kind of awkward to dispose of – like batteries.

As our piece on how to get rid of grease highlighted, the simplest way to toss something out isn’t always best. So, before you throw those old batteries of yours in the bin, let’s explore how you should be disposing of them.

Why you shouldn’t throw them in the bin

So, you’ve zapped the juice out of a set of batteries. What do you do? Throw ‘em in the regular old trash, right? Wrong.

According to Planet Ark, your batteries (rechargeable, non-rechargeable or the batteries you find in your electronic devices) should never go in the recycling or waste bin.

The reason behind this is that the make-up of these energiser bunnies is hazardous and tossing them out runs the risk of starting a fire.

Instead, you should be recycling your old batteries.

Where do I recycle dead batteries?

battery disposal where to recycle
Getty

It may not be as simple as throwing them in the kitchen bin, but there are a fair few ways to approach this.

The Australian government recently launched its new B-Cycle battery recycling scheme nationwide.

The system provides 2,351 different drop off points around the country for Aussies to dispose of their used batteries. Locations include retail stores like ALDI, Bunnings, Officeworks, Woolworths and local community centres with more locations being added over the coming months.

You can find your closest B-cycle drop-off spot by inputting your postcode to the website.

The recycling program will take everyday AA, AAA, button and coin sizes and other household batteries off your hands as well as any easily removable batteries from products like cameras, power tools and drones.

Doing this helps prevent the rubbish from heading into landfill, and the chemicals in these batteries from seeping into the environment.

Planet Ark also suggests checking out Battery World, as selected outlets accept all battery types. If you’re doing a bigger toss out of rubbish, it could be worth contacting your local council to see what their collection days include, and when they are.

Lastly, you can always take a peek at Recycling Near You (also Planet Ark) to see what battery disposal services are available nearby.

If the idea of travelling to dispose of batteries every time one of those suckers dies sounds like too much effort, collect those bad boys and do a mass disposal once a year. Easy!

Happy recycling, folks!

This article has been updated since its original publish date.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


Leave a Reply