Please don’t dump batteries or electronic waste in your curbside garbage and recycling carts!

 

It’s really easy to safely and properly dispose of batteries:

Place collected batteries in a clear plastic bag and put it atop your blue recycling cart on collection day.

Residents in the ReGen Monterey service area can drop off batteries and electronic waste for free at our Household Hazardous Waste facility or at community collection sites. Check with your city for locations.

Collect your electronic waste and request a free bulky item pick-up from your curbside hauler.

 

Household and lithium-ion batteries are extremely flammable and toxic.

 

Did you know that batteries cause fires and explosions in our recycling plant and landfill every week? Just one battery can put our workers, environment, customers, curbside collection workers, and community facilities at risk. We are recovering 5,000 POUNDS OF BATTERIES IN OUR RECYCLING PLANT EACH MONTH!

Lithium ion batteries are hidden in many rechargable devices that are thrown into garbage and recycling carts. Batteries can ignite simply by being broken, exposing the lithium to air. Other causes include vibration, overheating, and short circuits, among others. It’s easy to imagine how often such things can happen in a waste facility or vehicle, where batteries may be dropped onto hard surfaces, driven over, banged, or compressed and shredded inside machines.

In addition to fire, there’s a serious associated risk from the release of toxic chemicals such as fluoride gases. Improper disposal of batteries can affect environmental and public health, and risk injury and death to frontline workers.

 

How are batteries recycled?

 

When batteries are properly set atop your blue recycling cart or delivered to our Household Hazardous Waste facility, we are able to send them to specialized recycling facilities, where they separate the different valuable components of the battery, which can include lead, nickel, iron, copper and cadmium. The materials left after the metals have been purified, such as the acid and other toxic substances, are safely disposed of, following local, state, and federal regulations. The pure metals are then sold to manufacturers to produce new batteries and other products.

By recycling batteries, you are not only protecting environmental and public health, we’re also saving valuable natural resources, instead of relying on mining virgin raw materials.