Material / item
Batteries
Examples
Single use or rechargeable batteries
How to recycle / dispose
Do not put in any domestic waste bins. Supermarkets, any retailer selling electrical goods and many workplaces have recycling collection points for batteries.
Other options
Local tips and recycling centres have collection points for batteries.
Find your local tip and recycling centre
More information

Millions of small domestic batteries are thrown away each year and can cause damage to people and the environment.

Batteries can be very dangerous and even cause fires in bin lorries or at our recycling sorting site. 

Recycling lorry fire caused by batteries

Use alternatives to battery powered products such as rechargeable devices and mains power where possible to reduce battery waste.

Shops selling more than 32kg of batteries a year (approx 345 x four-packs of AA batteries) have to provide battery recycling collection facilities in-store. This means there are now lots more places where you can take your old batteries for recycling such as supermarkets, electrical stores.

What else can I do:

  • Use rechargeable batteries wherever possible or plug electrical equipment into the mains electricity
  • Try to buy appliances that use renewable energy - a wind-up radio or torch, dynamo bicycle lights or a solar powered calculator
Where else to recycle

Check your nearest alternative locations to recycle this item on RecycleNow