EPA Green Living hazardous waste disposal Sustainability

How to Dispose of and Recycle Batteries

Since the millions of batteries manufactured worldwide often end up in landfills, Rader has some helpful tips on reducing this household waste. This A-Z guide compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will give you all the information you need to dispose of and recycle batteries properly.

When batteries from your cell phone, lawnmower, flashlight or any battery-powered device stop working, it’s time to remove them and replace them. Once you take them out and set them aside, determine which ones can be disposed of in your household waste/landfill, and which ones can be recycled.

Spoiler Alert: Alkaline Batteries Can Go in the Trash 

 

  • These common everyday batteries are used in such products such as alarm clocks, calculators, flashlights, TV remote controls, radios, remote-control products, children’s toys and other items.
  • For example, some common alkaline and zinc-carbon batteries include 9 Volt, AA, AAA, C, D and some button cells.

Find a Battery Recycling Location Near You


Batteries are manufactured using different mixtures of chemical elements designed to meet customers’ power and performance needs. Batteries can contain metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, nickel and silver, which can pose a threat to human health or the environment when improperly managed at the end of their service life. Battery types are identified by marking and labeling, not by the battery’s shape or the color of the label.

Used Ni-CD Batteries

Short for Nickel-Cadmium, two metals on the Periodic Table of the Elements, these batteries are typically used in cordless power tools, cordless phones, digital and video cameras, two-way radios, bio-medical equipment and video cameras. They may look like single-use AA, AAA or other alkaline batteries or a battery pack shaped for specific tools.

If Ni-CD batteries are removable, rechargeable batteries, they can be brought to specialized battery recyclers, or participating retailers that provide battery take-back services. In Rader’s hometown of Findlay, OH, Ni-CD batteries can be dropped off in the tools department at Lowe’s.

Used Lithium-Ion Batteries

Learn more about these batteries and their proper management.

Some batteries may also contain materials such as cobalt, lithium and graphite that are considered critical minerals by the United States Geological Survey. Critical minerals are raw materials that are economically and strategically important to the United States and have a high supply risk potential and for which there are no easy substitutes. Consequently, every effort should be made to recycle and recover these materials to ensure they will be available for generations to come.

Some Batteries Are Hazardous, Some Are Not

Once a battery is no longer useful, the type and chemistry of the battery determines which of the various waste management options to use. It is important to manage batteries correctly according to their type because some batteries can cause a risk to safety and health if mismanaged at the end of their lives.

Batteries can have enough energy to injure or start fires even when used and when they appear to be discharged. For safety, remember that not all batteries are removable or serviceable by the user—heed battery and product markings regarding safety and use for all types of batteries.

For more information, visit the EPA’s website

DOT Compliance EPA Hazardous Waste Removal Lab Packs

What Is a Lab Pack?

A “lab pack” is an accumulation of unwanted or obsolete chemicals that range in size from less than 2 ml to 5 gallons and placed in approved containers by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for safe shipping. An absorbent material, such as vermiculite, must be placed around the contents in each container. These containers vary in size from 5 gallons to 55-gallon drums. 

Two primary federal agenciesthe DOT and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)oversee transportation, shipping, and disposal of unwanted or obsolete chemicals. Sometimes these chemicals are considered to be hazardous waste, while other times they can be non-hazardous. 

Lab packing is a very effective way for companies, schools, colleges, and universities to remove unwanted or obsolete chemicals.


How to Create a Lab Pack 

First, a chemist begins the lab pack disposal process by identifying, categorizing, and segregating each chemical based on DOT and EPA requirements, chemical characteristics and disposal facility guidelines. Each disposal company has its own unique requirements for shipping and handling chemical waste, so be sure you’re following their guidelines as well. 

Some companies, schools or universities may have significant amounts of unwanted chemicals on site. But they can’t all be packed in a FedEx box and shipped together. Mixing non-compatible chemicals into a lab pack container can impact the health and safety of anyone who comes into contact with the container. In fact, combining chemicals that react with one another could have deadly consequences.


The Waste Stream Combinations Number in the Thousands

Before being shipped offsite, a chemist should separate each chemical, according to DOT regulations. The chemicals need to be organized based on their 1) hazard class, packing group, and 3) proper shipping name.

For instance, most flammable liquids can be packed into one container, while oxidizers must be packed in a separate lab pack. There are more types of waste streams than just flammable liquids and oxidizers, however. The DOT has nine shipping classes (placards pictured below), but there are over 2,500 hazardous materials that can be transported for disposal!

 

hazardous materials placards

A chemist or hazmat expert must have knowledge of each of the chemical’s constituents in order to properly assemble a lab pack that complies with DOT regulations, EPA requirements and disposal company guidelines. 

Separating Chemicals into Lab Packs Can Be Tedious

Creating a compliant lab pack isn’t an easy process: It can often be complex. After each chemical is separated into packs based on their hazard level, toxicity, DOT requirements, EPA requirements, and disposal facility requirements, a hazardous materials expert begins packing the substances into DOT-conforming containers for that particular hazard class. These can include cardboard, metal or poly containers. Then, the lab pack expert carefully places each chemical into the container, surrounded by an ample amount of absorbent.


How to Properly Dispose of Lab-Packed Chemicals 

Now it’s time to dispose of these lab packs. Each one of the containers must be labeled with specific information required by DOT, the EPA, and the disposal facility; manifested, and transported by a licensed hazardous waste transporter.

Once the disposal facility receives the lab packs, they properly manage the destruction of the chemicals within the containers. Some of these substances can be recycled for fuel blending, while others are neutralized, incinerated, landfilled or treated.

As often as possible, Rader aims to facilitate the recycling of these substances for re-use into other chemicals or products. 

Contact Rader Environmental Services to see how we can help remove your obsolete or unwanted chemicals.