What Do You Do with Old Alkaline Batteries?

In most communities, alkaline and zinc carbon batteries can be safely put in your household trash. EPA recommendation: send used alkaline and zinc carbon batteries to battery recyclers or check with your local or state solid waste authority.

Can alkaline batteries go in a landfill?

Alkaline batteries used to be manufactured with mercury, a toxic heavy metal, as one of their components. When scaled up to the 72,000 tons of alkaline batteries purchased (and mostly discarded) annually in the United States, that would mean 720 tons of mercury would go into landfills every year.

Where to Dispose of Energizer and all Other Alkaline Batteries. The simplest way to dispose of your alkaline battery is to throw them away with normal household waste.

How do you dispose of Duracell batteries?

As Duracell’s website says: “Alkaline batteries can be safely disposed of with normal household waste.” Energizer confirms that regular batteries are fine to toss in the trash, but says rechargeable batteries should be recycled according to US federal guidelines.

As batteries corrode, their chemicals soak into soil and contaminate groundwater and surface water. Our ecosystems, which contain thousands of aquatic plants and animals, are compromised when filled with battery chemicals. Lithium batteries can cause landfill fires that can smolder for many years.