In the world of do-it-yourselfers, many are taking on the task of vehicle repairs on their own. When it comes to replacing your car battery, it’s fairly simple to do even for a car newbie. Part of the process is knowing how to get rid of the old battery in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner. Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the best ways to dispose of your old car battery effectively.
Don’t Put It In The Trash
Car batteries are made with lead and acid. These batteries contain a large number of toxic chemicals. If these batteries are disposed of in your trash collection, they’ll end up in a landfill. There, they’ll rot and leak their toxic lead, chemicals, acids, and non-biodegradable plastics into the ground.
Lead can be extremely harmful to the environment and cleaning it up isn’t easy. Its residue will have lasting effects on the environment that is contaminated. In addition, lead can be dangerous for people, especially children. It can lead to nervous system problems as well as brain damage. With over 20 pounds of lead in most batteries, improper disposal of just one car battery can have detrimental effects.
Therefore, car batteries should not be disposed of in your regular trash collection. Rather, you should opt for one of the disposal methods below. This will ensure that the battery gets disposed of in a safe and an environmentally-friendly way.
Submit The Core To The Auto Shop
When you purchase a new battery from the store, most retailers will charge you a core fee. This is a fee for those who do not bring in an old battery in exchange for the new battery. To save yourself the core fee, you can simply take the old battery into the store. Most places will either accept the core at the time of purchase or will credit you the fee back when you bring in the old battery later on. This is the easiest way to dispose of an old battery without having to pay to do so.
Contact Your Local Dump Station
You should have a sanitation department in your town or a surrounding town where regular trash collection goes. You’ll want to contact your local dump department and ask if they take old car batteries. Most sanitation departments have a special toxic chemical disposal program for items like car batteries. You’ll need to pay the dump station a small fee to dispose of your battery. You can determine the fee when verifying if the station takes old batteries or not.
AAA Battery Roundup Day
If you’re a member of AAA, you’ve probably heard about Battery Roundup Day. This allows motorists the ability to drop off old car batteries at a designated location for free. Most locations are determined by the local AAA office. This day is typically the same as Earth Day. You can contact your local AAA office for more details on this program and where you can take the old battery to.
Check Out Earth 911
One of the simplest ways to find a recycling center near you that accepts car batteries is to check out Earth 911. This website will do a search by zip code to find a center that is close to your location. You will find that most auto stores in your local area will accept old batteries, also known as cores.
Getting rid of that old car battery isn’t as easy as throwing it in the trash. Rather, you need to be careful with how you dispose of a car battery due to the toxic chemicals that are inside of it. These chemicals can be harmful to both the environment and people who are exposed to it. To do your best to safely dispose of your car battery, you should be using one of the methods above. We’re sure that you’ll be able to find plenty of locations where you can get rid of your unwanted battery safely.
