Seriously. A few, actually. It's a shameful secret I've hidden from the world up till now. They aren't LARGE buckets, but they are big enough that they add up to quite a lot of batteries. They are all buckets for dead batteries since I can't figure out what to do with used batteries that isn't
the trash, because I haven't found a place around here that will take them cheaply and I know that throwing them in the garbage is
bad.
I started out with
one bucket, and I said "this is the bucket where I will put my dead batteries until I figure out what to do with them." Because my desk is an unending nightmare, eventually I would put aside and forget about batteries destined for that bucket until they could be vomited up from Hell and rolled in with the
new batteries I was about to use. I would then growl in frustration, put all of it aside, swear to sort them out later, and start a new bucket for batteries I need to sort. Every so often I would forget which bucket is which and just start a new one.
So I now have a
lot of batteries, some of which are bad and some of which are not, and no way to tell the difference.
Can I put a few into something with batteries I know are new, knowing I'll need to change all of them faster if those are dead? Or better yet, reliably sort them?
And wtf can I do with dead batteries? I am so very, very tired of having dead batteries around because there's nothing safe to do with them, and frankly I'm not even sure it's safe to keep them. They are almost all alkaline batteries, with a few lithium batteries thrown in because I briefly convinced myself they were less poisonous and easier to recycle.
There are
so many batteries on and around my desk. The sheer volume of unsorted/dead batteries lurking under god knows what else is actually making it harder to face cleaning off my desk, despite being probably one of the more pressing reasons I
need to do so.
Posts
https://www.thinkgreenfromhome.com/Batteries.cfm
Think Green From Home will take them, for $25 per full box.
Otherwise, you have to find a local recycling center.* Alkaline batteries can be disposed of in your usual trash, otherwise, depending on your state (like, not CA).
* although really, most alkaline batteries that are going to be "recycled" end up in a landfill anyway.
EDIT: Oh, if you want to figure out what batteries are good or bad, use a battery tester:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-Analog-Battery-Tester-ABT-602R/202353291
They are DC Volt meters specifically designed to test household batteries. They are no more than $10. It's usually a weekend afternoon project for me when I'm housecleaning in the spring to go through my bucket of batteries and test which ones are actually good.
One convenient thing that I use, in the case of partially charged batteries, is my Logitech wireless mouse. They suck down so little power that usually even "dead" batteries work in them, so when the charge runs out on my work mouse, I know that those batteries are totally dead.
FWIW, my city (Seattle) actually advises residents to throw dead alkaline batteries in the trash. (https://atyourservice.seattle.gov/2016/04/07/faq-can-i-trash-dead-alkaline-batteries/) (Rechargeable batteries should not go in the trash.)
Also, a quick and dirty googling found me this: https://qz.com/331854/fyi-its-totally-fine-to-throw-away-most-batteries/
Or Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/how-to-dispose-of-batteries/
However, because you have a mixture of different battery types, and a large number of them, it might be a good idea to find a battery recycler or a household hazardous waste disposal site.
One of the most common battery recyclers in the US is Batteries Plus, aka Batteries & Bulbs. (https://www.batteriesplus.com/blog/power/recycle-batteries-and-bulbs) They run retail stores around the country and you can just give them a container of old household batteries.
Household hazardous waste disposal sites are places run by your local garbage company, where you can drop off everything from old batteries to used motor oil.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Generally the store doesn't, they just store them in managed waste buckets and a contractor takes them (plus e waste, any hazardous chemicals, and some of the oddball stuff states will regulate that the EPA et al don't) away and actually deals with it. Those companies are generally pretty thorough in their processing because reclaimable materials is a fair chunk of their profit margins, and their whole job otherwise is to strictly adhere to any government disposal rules.
This has been how its worked where I've lived in ME, NC, and FL. Not sure if its how it works where you are but I would imagine so.
I don't have laser eyes, or super strength, or the ability to fly.
But what I do have... is a particular bucket of batteries.
You mention these are mostly alkaline batteries, have you looked into rechargeable AAs like the Panasonic Eneloops? I used to burn through stacks of batteries in my various game controllers and have slowly switched to all rechargeables. While they don't last quite as long in high drain devices, you can always have a set sitting on the charger ready to swap in. I usually get about a week or so out of my Elite controller before I need to swap batteries, maybe 3-4 days with a wired headset. In the 7 years since I moved into this house and started the process, I've had a total of 4 recycleable batteries die and need replacing.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
Most of our batteries happen because of two toys my kids have. They were both gifts from other people, and they see a LOT of use. We've had them for years and they are much-beloved, but they require 4 AA batteries each and burn through them relatively quickly when they're being prioritized.
I can't see why rechargables would be disfavored over the bucket-o-duracells
Yeah no absolutely buy rechargeable batteries for everything you can. Good quality cells can be recharged over a thousand times, and if you get the high performance NiMH ones they have just as much capacity as alkaline batteries (AA cells with 2650 mAh versus non-rechargeable 2700 mAh, or just a couple of percent difference, undetectable outside of a test bench).
There are absolutely bad rechargeables (fuck you, Duracell I want my money back!) but the Panasonic Eneloops (and apparently the Amazon Choice ones that are essentially the same thing I guess?) aren't that. I've just now after 10 years, started to get rid of my old Eneloops because they don't maintain a charge for more than a day or two now and while in use they get drained in less than an hour.
But that's with them being used on a very regular basis over the course of a decade.
A wireless mouse, two Rock Band guitars, a drum kit, blinds in my room that take (and no this is not an exaggeration) 18 AA batteries, and various remotes. That's without getting into the roommate's tiny human/my god daughters toys.
The Rock Band instruments see the quickest turnover by far but that's largely because without a 50% or higher charge the instruments go to shit.
Ceres mentions kids - my kids have approximately 750,207 toys that take everything from D cells down to these tiny wafer batteries I have to get in the pharmacy department next to the hearing aid stuff.
Edit: ~doubletake~ Battery powered blinds?
You just need to be careful with some devices that the rechargeables provide voltage in the allowable range. For your typical A-D cells and typical devices, the rechargeables are almost certainly fine. For some specialized devices, it's not. There's a flash I've been eying that can be damaged if you use rechargeables since it isn't designed to accept the higher voltage the rechargable form factor equivalent provides.
For your toys, fuck it whatever. Mice and game controllers are fine too.
edit: I've got some Energizer AA NiMH batteries I've been using for at least 10 years for my mice. If you do get them, consider getting a charger like this one. I have the older BC-900 and it's been a trooper.
edit edit: For battery longevity, consider using the slowest charge you can (e.g. 200mA). Use fast chargers only when you need those batteries available now. I prefer just having 4 full ones waiting for replacement (I only have devices that need a max of 2).
I have three remote control toys controllers that between them use 24 AA batteries (8 each). If I was buying fresh alkaline AA batteries for them regularly, I'd be 1: broke and 2: literally drowning under a pile of dead AA batteries as large as a small hill.
I also have a remote for my television, a cordless doorbell, a remote for my cable box, a remote for my stereo, a remote for my BluRay player, a telescope whose hand controller takes 6 AA batteries...
If I wasn't using rechargeables, I'd be the world's second biggest environmental criminal, right behind Sinopec.
Yup and they're literally non-functional without power!
In their defense I will say that it's been three years and I haven't had to change the batteries yet despite daily use so that's something at least. Also they're more or less opaque blackout blinds that work without drapes or curtains of any kind which is nice. The previous homeowners spent a lot on blinds. I priced out what they had installed and iirc it was close to 4k.
Our kids have a Leap Pad and kids camera, both of which were gifts, and they use 4 AA batteries each. There are also some bluetooth mice floating around, but take very little power. We probably go through 4-8 batteries a month, depending. The biggest problem is that disposing of them makes me nervous so they sit and intermingle with new batteries, which makes things worse. But if I know the alkaline batteries can be thrown away relatively safely I feel a bit better. I don't have a device to use; apparently spent ones bounce differently?
Panasonic Eneloop was the battery of choice when I switched over, and I think the Amazon and Ikea rechargeables are rebranded versions of the same cells now.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
My audio gear (a field recorder and a portable mixer) even have settings within their menus to set whether you are using Alkaline or NiMH batteries, so that they can display an accurate battery gauge and "time left on charge".
I tried some of the Ni-Cd a little over a decade ago before picking up Eneloops and yup, the Ni-Cd were terrible and had no lifespan. Like I said, I'm just now replacing Eneloops that I picked up around 10 years ago because that's how long it's taken them to not hold a strong enough charge to be reliable in Rock Band instruments (which need about a 40-50% charge before things start to get wonky).
Even then they still get enough charge to work but only enough to last for an hour or so before they dip below the required threshold. So I'm guessing they maybe hit about 55-60% of what new ones do which doesn't sound great but it took about 9-10 years to start getting to that point.
Ask your local car parts store if they'll take any batteries. My local advance auto says they'll take non-car liquid batteries. Just won't get any kind of credit.
You can test them by looking at them through your cellphone camera and pressing buttons with the end of the remote pointed at the lens. The human eye can't see the IR signals that remotes use, but your phone camera will pick it up easily.
This is why I still have a pile of old game music CDs out and my old portable-CD player. It's not the best quality music, but it'll chew up partially and mostly-dead AA batteries to where we don't feel guilty about pitching them.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Li-Ion are pretty much just newer better Ni-MH, Li-Po are the ones that will explode and/or burn your house down if mistreated.
You can also put them in kids toys and freak them out with the creepy broken sounds.
You can also test it by checking to see if your TV turned on when you hit the button, and bypassing the cell phone + camera stuff?
Neat trick about the ir stuff with the camera, I didn't know that. Just seems unnecessary in this specific situation
No way I am way more freaked out by that than the kids, why do you think I have so many mostly-used batteries?
https://youtu.be/j30KJ-DS-pI
Why "Battery Daddy" instead of "Battery Caddy"?
OwO
Do you not find they leak storing them in a bucket? I stored my batteries in a bag for the longest time, and they always leaked. I was told it's the battery nodes hitting each other over time. Unless that was bunk, I'd guess a bucket has the same issue.
Zinc-carbon and zinc-chloride will leak, but hardly anyone even makes those anymore (in the US the yellow Thunderbolt Magnums are the last brand I know of that hasn't gone to alkaline - Eaverready changed over a few years ago and were one of the last). Alkaline are less problematic, and most rechargeables even less so.
Corrosion isn't leaking, though it gets confused with it. That's something that can happen anywhere two different metals are touching, and electricity makes it worse.
Ideally any battery stored loose like that should have the terminals taped to prevent shorts - 9 volts in particular can hear up enough to start fires just touching the outside metal of another battery. Easy to do, just wind a layer of electrical tape around it length-wise.