What to do with old video camera batteries

June 5, 2005 8:51 PM

A lab I have recently taken over has a box full of obsolete batteries, mostly for various video cameras stretching back at least to the late 80s. I assume these are mostly lead-acid or NiCad. I don't have the cameras anymore. The batteries are intact, but I would like to dispose of them properly or find out if they can be recycled. Any ideas?
posted by realcountrymusic to Technology (8 answers total)

Al Borland is here to assist you.
(At least with the NiCads)
posted by madajb at 9:03 PM on June 5, 2005

Response by poster: Wow. Thank you! It turns out most Radio Shacks accept batteries for this company, and I think my batteries are the right type.

Metafilter just rocks.
posted by realcountrymusic at 9:59 PM on June 5, 2005

Well, since that got answered already... How about regular Alkaline batteries. I have a box of those, and I's rather not throw them in the trash if I have an alternative.
posted by horsemuth at 3:34 AM on June 6, 2005

If you have a best buy near you they often have a bin at the entrance to the store for old batteries and old cellphones.

Often your local municipality has a program for battery disposal, though it's often badly advertised. Googling for "battery recycling loudoun" (my county of residence) hit this right off the bat. - try the same for your city/countu.

They also had a link to this recycling finder for rechargables good for no matter where you are - just punch in your zipcode.
posted by phearlez at 7:31 AM on June 6, 2005

If your lab is somewhere (e.g. university) with an Environment Health and Safety department they will probably take batteries. Where my lab is located the people who pick up chemical waste will take them away.
posted by sevenless at 11:23 AM on June 6, 2005

Batteries, all types that I can think of except some Air-Zinc, are hazardous waste. sevenless is right on (though it's a huge stack of paper work for me). If you have to handle this yourself and the municipality doesn't handle this kind of waste you can check with Fire Departments as well. They'd rather help you dispose of it properly than deal with a fire at a warehouse with a 50 year collection.
posted by Mitheral at 12:09 PM on June 6, 2005

Response by poster: thanks everyone. Yeah, I know it's hazardous waste, which is why I want them gone and why I want to do it right. And also why I feel guilty as hell just to have this problem. My university -- I wouldn't trust them as far as I could spit to do something like this right. But a lot of great advice here.
posted by realcountrymusic at 5:44 PM on June 6, 2005

just to reiterate, do check into your local recycling plan. In my neighborhood, all I have to do is put any types of small batteries (car/appliance batteries I gotta deal with myself) into a clear plastic bag and drop them in the same bin as my recycling, they sort them out. It's very nice but again, unless you are the type of person who reads the recycling program literature that gets sent out once a year, it's an easy service to miss.
posted by nanojath at 9:21 PM on June 6, 2005