Is It Legal To Throw Away Batteries In Texas?

Here's the scene-you just changed the batteries in the remote, you head towards the trash and you think, "wait, am I supposed to be doing this?"

Maybe I came into some kind of meeting late. Maybe it was a childhood safety lesson. I may even have thought I saw something online, but I could swear I've always been told "don't throw batteries in the trash".  So was I correct, or no? The answer is, I was partially correct and used to be mostly correct.

As you've probably guessed and/or know, you cannot throw car batteries in the trash (they're usually traded out for a nice core-charge rebate anyways). You are also not supposed to throw out rechargeable batteries because they have heavy metals in them that are bad for the environment. Then there are the lithium-ion batteries which have to be recycled, as well as those "button batteries" like you use in your remote.

This is where the fun part comes in, and where I was both right and wrong. Single-use batteries can be thrown away. I'm talking about regular batteries like you use in your remote or flashlight. This can NOW be done because of a law that went into effect in 1996 banning the use of mercury.

With all of this said, there are some places that will take your single-use batteries as recyclables and I have seen some bins at some home improvement stores. If you have other questions about your batteries, then "Take Care Of Texas" has more info.