Guide for Reuse, Repair, Recycling, and Safe Disposal
for Alameda County, Contra Costa County, and the City of Palo Alto

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Batteries - Household - Single-Use

Primary/Single-Use batteries cannot be recharged and must be disposed of once they wear out. Alkaline, lithium, silver oxide, zinc-air, zinc-carbon, and zinc-chloride are all types of primary batteries.

Household Hazardous Waste

This item should never be put in a curbside bin. For more information visit our household hazardous waste page.

Find more information on our Battery Fact Sheet.

Vendors

Vendor Address City Destination Disposal Method Notes
Universal Electric Service 1551 Clement St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 3400 Cesar Chavez St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Golden City Building Supply 1279 Pacific Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off Household batteries can be put into a clear plastic bag & placed on top of black cart on collection day. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 200 West Portal Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Freon Free 1881 Walters Ct Suite A Fairfield Recycle Drop-off for a Fee
Walgreens 825 Market St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Sports Basement (Sunnyvale) 1177 Kern Ave Sunnyvale Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
SMaRT Station 301 Carl Rd Sunnyvale Recycle Free Drop-off Please note that the SMaRT Station serves Mountain View and Sunnyvale residents only.
Alameda County Business Hazardous Waste Program (Livermore Facility) 5584 La Ribera Street Livermore Recycle Drop-off for a Fee Lithium batteries must have terminals insulated (taped)
Central Contra Costa Household Battery Recycling Program Recycle Free Drop-off
Biologic Environmental Services & Waste Solutions 23490 Connecticut St Hayward Recycle Pick-up for a Fee Call for specific info on this waste
Oakland Public Library (Downtown Main Library) 125 14th St Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
Home Depot (Emeryville) 3838 Hollis St. Emeryville Recycle Free Drop-off
Universal Electric Supply Co. 438 8th St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 3601 California St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Great Wall Hardware 1821 Taraval St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 2050 Irving St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Handy Handyman Ace Hardware 2075 Market St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 2120 Polk St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Mastick Senior Center 1155 Santa Clara Ave Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off Accepts batteries from members only - no large quantities.

Curbside Service

Special Action Note
Alameda
Residents may drop off household batteries (A, AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt) at the ACI Alameda office or package in a sealed, clear plastic bag and place on top of the recyclable materials cart. (No car batteries allowed.)
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Albany
Put batteries in a clear plastic bag, seal it shut and place on the top of the recyclables cart.
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Berkeley
Castro Valley Sanitary District
Single-family and multi-family residents with blue recycling cart service may participate in CVSan’s curbside battery recycling program by placing used dry cell batteries (household batteries such as AAA, AA, B, C, D, 9V, and small “button” batteries) in a sealed clear plastic bag on top of your blue recycling cart on your service day. No automotive, lithium-ion or liquid batteries are accepted. Please tape terminals on 9-volt batteries.
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Dublin
Single Family Residents. Place used batteries on top of your recycle cart in a clear plastic bag.
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Emeryville
Emeryville accepts this item for curbside pickup, but don't put them in your carts or bins. Cart customers: place in sealed, zip bag taped to lid of recycling cart. Emeryville bin customers call to order mail-back collection container: 510-613-8710.
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Fremont
Hayward
Single Family Service - Household batteries can be put into a sealed clear bag & placed next to the Recycling cart on collection day. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
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Hayward (Oro Loma - L2)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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Livermore
Single Family Service - Household batteries can be put into a sealed clear bag & placed on top of the Recycling cart on collection day. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
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Newark
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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Oakland
Residents. Put household dry-cell batteries in a clear, sealed bag on top of recycling cart by 6am on your regular recycling pickup date. Always tape ends of batteries to avoid contact. Bag button-cell and NiCd batteries in a bag separate from alkaline batteries. Do not include rechargeable batteries.
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Piedmont
Place in Ziploc bag on top of the recycling cart. Also accepted at the Piedmont Fire Station for recycling.
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Pleasanton
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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San Leandro
Bag batteries in clear bag and put on top of Recycling cart.
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San Leandro (Oro Loma - L3)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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San Lorenzo (Oro Loma)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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Unincorporated Oro Loma (L1)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
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Union City
Single Family & Parcelized Multifamily Dwellings: Put in clear, sealed bag next to recycling cart.
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