Submitted 1 day ago by Burninator05@lemmy.world to [deleted]
I was cleaning our a drawer and found an old cell phone with a swelling battery. I know i can’t/shouldn’t throw it away but because it is swollen recycling seems to be off the table as well. I found a place that would take it but they wanted $150 for the packaging to make it safe to mail.
I’m in north-west Louisiana. How do I get rid of it.
Call your local fire department non-emergency number. I noticed an old device that my kid was using had developed bad battery bulge while on vacation. The fire chief said to bring it to him and they’d dispose of it. If they don’t want it, they should know who locally can safely handle it.
Best buy takes electronics recycling.
Check them at your enemies?
Search “E-waste near me”
If its apple product, they will remove the battery and dispose of it for you at their service desk.
Otherwise try a battery store like Batteries Plus.
Best Buy will accept most electronics for recycling.
Look up local “Hazardous Waste” and “E-waste” disposal. Some electronics repair shops will take them too.
If you have multi meter and the voltage is at zero then it should be safe to recycle normally. If it’s charged and swollen then it’s a fire risk. Keep the battery in the phone and in a metal container until you know there no energy left in the battery. A dead battery even swollen shouldn’t be a fire risk.
you cannot recycle li ion batteries “normally”. you should remove the battery from the phone and dispose of it as soon as possible. best buy, target, and some other techy stores take them, so call around. phone repair shops should also be able to help. a conductive container is also a bad idea. airtight plastic is the way to go if you’re that concerned about it, however once it’s removed from the device you can realistically keep it in any nonconductive container and you’ll be fine.
Start with your city and parish, do either of them run a household hazardous waste recycling center? These places will take chemicals, batteries and other dangerous materials so they don’t end up in the landfill. Sherveport is hosting a dropoff day on July 26: www.shreveportgreen.org/community-garden-2-2-1
Also look and see if any local recycling centers will take them. We also have electronic/e-waste collectors in my area.
Oh, another US issue.
(Not being condescending, but oftentimes there are solutions but not in the us. In this case in Germany you have the “wertstoffhof” where you can just bring stuff like that. Cost - if any - depends on location)
We have that in the US too, but condescend away.
It varies from state to state. It isnt across the board. Same here in Canada. My province makes it easy and free. Not all do.
Lowes or Home Depot might have your back.
Not to hijack your question, but I’m in a similar situation where the Anker power bank I use to charge my phone got recalled because it can apparently cause fires. Lurking here to see how people respond to your question, because I know I shouldn’t just throw it away, and none of the battery recycle places around town will take it because it’s been recalled.
If its recalled don’t you return it for a refund usually?
They didn’t offer that, they only offered a replacement.
Batteries shouldn’t go into garbage because they can and will leak or explode. We have a regular recycling service around here, but they don’t take many kinds of batteries (including lithium ones).
There’s a county “hazardous waste” service that takes things like paint and old fuel for generators. They take some things but not others. There’s also a separate “e-waste” service. Last time I had a few things to drop off, I had to call to find which ones would take a specific type of battery.
I’ve got the same Anker recall. Will be calling around next week to find which place will take them.
I thought that said swallowed batteries at first and had some questions of my own
Incineration is the best way.
abbadon420@lemm.ee 17 hours ago
What happens if you put it back into the drawer and forget about it? Asking for a friend
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 15 hours ago
Put them back in your friend’s drawer and forget about them.