Housekeeping · 재활용

Used household battery recycling: six safe sorting steps

Not all batteries belong in the same bin. Identify the chemistry, insulate lithium or rechargeable battery contacts and use an approved collection route.

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Wikimedia Commons · Lead holder / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 (unaltered) · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Based on US EPA household-battery guidance. US disposal rules may differ from Korean or Japanese municipal systems; always check local collection instructions.

Your try-it-at-home checklist

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1. Read the label or device manual to identify alkaline, single-use lithium, lithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride chemistry. Shape alone is unreliable.
2. Stop using any swollen, leaking, hot or damaged cell. Do not crush or open it; ask the manufacturer or a specialist collection program for directions.
3. Check local drop-off rules even for ordinary AA/AAA alkaline batteries. Never assume all chemistries belong in mixed curbside recycling.
4. Prevent short circuits by covering exposed terminals of lithium and rechargeable cells with nonmetallic insulating tape or bagging each one separately.
5. Never force out a built-in battery. Ask an electronics recycler whether the whole device must be submitted.
6. Keep batteries temporarily in a dry place away from children, then take them promptly to a municipal, retailer or certified collection point as permitted.

Your try-it-at-home checklist

Further reading

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