Is Your Old Car Battery Recyclable?

Yes, car batteries can be recycled, and more than that, they absolutely should be. Like with just about anything actually, it's far better to recycle a car battery than it is just to chuck it into a landfill. There are personal and environmental dangers to storing or disposing of them incorrectly, which this article will dive into and explore further down your page.

It may just seem like another task to tack onto your day, but recycling an old car battery is certainly worth the time and effort. The chances are it will be used to produce a new battery down the line, with roughly 80% of materials found in new batteries coming from recycled old units. This efficiency in recycling comes as a direct result of battery manufacturers being financially incentivized to up their recycling efforts, by designing systems which enable them to be recycled so efficiently in the first place. The same is true of EV batteries, too, which have been recycled into new replacements for years now.

Furthermore, it's actually remarkably easy to recycle a car battery properly, with numerous options available to you. While it is possible to refurbish old car batteries, that may sound like an unnecessary hassle. So, just know that you could also get paid for disposing of it correctly, which provides a real incentive to not just leave it lying around in the corner of a garage like so many of us do.

This isn't a service you need to pay for, and there is no complex procedure behind it either. One of the simplest ways to get rid of an old car battery is to drop it off at a local hazardous chemical and item drop-off facility. Some firms will even collect it and pay you for the privilege, which could be especially useful if you've acquired a hoard of them in the garage over the years.

Alternatively, you can take old car batteries to metal recycling facilities, and it's here where you're even more likely to receive a payout, as these facilities can turn a profit thanks to the valuable lead content. Furthermore, many garage stores — like O'Reilly and AutoZone – will provide you with a $10 gift card for choosing to recycle a car battery with them. There are limits as to how many you can recycle in a given amount of time, such as five per day in most O'Reilly stores, but it's unlikely that many will be exceeding this under typical circumstances anyway.

This gift card payment is different from any core charge return that may be due when dropping off an old battery after buying a new one. So, to be clear, you can't expect both the core charge return and a gift card. Instead, the gift card is better seen as payment for bringing in batteries acquired from elsewhere, and note that staff can refuse to take it if it's leaking or otherwise clearly damaged in another way.

The benefits of recycling are well known by now — it helps conserve the Earth's precious materials, saves energy, and preserves the environment. However, there are some factors that specifically apply to car batteries that are well worth noting here. For starters, car batteries are full of hazardous materials, namely lead and sulfuric acid.

If batteries are disposed of incorrectly, those materials can leak out and cause soil and/or water pollution. Given the toxic nature of these substances, keeping them out of the ground and out of the water supply is essential if we want to protect ourselves, wildlife, and the environment. Such substances are known to cause long-term physical and neurological issues, so for that sake alone, recycling old car batteries is essential.

There is also another deterrent from keeping old car batteries in the garage, and that's the simple fact that they could damage anything in close vicinity, including your car. Sulfuric acid can easily damage your car's paint job, as can a whole host of less obvious products and contaminants. Let's face it, you would forever regret cluttering up the garage with old batteries should one leak all over your paintwork, so it's best take them to any of the aforementioned locations and exchange them for cash, gift cards, or just a little peace of mind.