Nickel Cadmium Battery

Nickel Cadmium Battery

According to the Batteries Plus website, they recycle these types of spent batteries: “lead acid (Pb) batteries used in cars, trucks and emergency lighting, Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) batteries used in cordless phones, cordless tools and two way radios, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries used in camcorders, bar code scanners and digital cameras, Lithium Ion (Li Ion) or Lithium Polymer (Li Poly) used in cell phones and laptops.”

This retail store has locations all over the U.S. and you can find a location near you to take the batteries mentioned above there and they actually do recycle them. And not “recycle” as defined by “throw into a hole in the ground…” What happens to some of our e-waste is the topic for another day. In any case, I wondered- “What happens to the batteries after I drop them off at their store?” It’s important to know if the common household batteries you bring in are actually recycled in the United States. Here are some important recycling questions to ask any place you bring items.

It turns out, batteries are sent out to a company by the name of Battery Solutions, Inc. or BSI. BSI is an approved recycling vendor that also supplies containers/boxes to anyone that wants one, in which you can put specific types of batteries. Then they are sent out to BSI under guidelines set by the DOT and EPA. The U.S. Department of Transportation tightened regulations for shipping batteries (because some of them caught fire during shipping). This is why the battery terminals need to be taped! On the BSI website, they also talk about what happens to batteries after they receive them! Success!