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

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.

Use the BatteryNetwork (formerly Call2Recycle) Battery Drop-off Location Finder for single-use, rechargeable, e-bike, cellphones, and high energy batteries.

Learn more about Lithium Ion batteries and their safe disposal from the EPA.

Loose batteries are batteries sold separately from a product, individually packaged with a product, or designed to be easily removed from a product with no more than common household tools. Products containing loose batteries are not subject to the battery-embedded product fee. For information on loose batteries, visit the Battery Stewardship

Vendors

Vendor Address City Destination Method Notes
Cibra 1125 Beacon St Brea Recycle Mail-in for a Fee Home collection programs with pre-paid shipping kits.
WM Think Green From Home 172 98th Ave Oakland Recycle Mail-in for a Fee Online service. Programs for residents and businesses.
Revolt Recycling 657 143rd Ave San Leandro Recycle Drop-off for a Fee, Pick-up for a Fee Alkaline (Non-Mercury) Batteries,Nickel Cadmium Batteries, Nickel metal Hydride Batteries, Carbon Zinc Batteries, Non-Mercury & Zinc Air Batteries
Oakland Public Library (Dimond Branch) 3565 Fruitvale Ave Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
Alamo (Dublin) Ace Hardware 7373 Village Pkwy Dublin Recycle Free Drop-off
Crete Crush 12584 White Rock Road Rancho Cordova Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 5280 Geary Blvd. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 300 Gough St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1524 Polk St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
SF Hardware 512 Divisadero St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Cole Hardware 2254 Polk St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Bill's Ace Hardware 3610 Pacheco Blvd. Martinez Recycle Free Drop-off
Central Contra Costa HHW Collection Facility 4797 Imhoff Pl. Martinez Recycle Free Drop-off
BulbCycle 7700 Regents Road #113
Suite 547
San Diego Recycle Mail-in for a Fee
Lowe's 491 Bayshore Blvd. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Oakland Public Library (Lakeview Branch) 550 El Embarcadero Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
North State Environmental (South San Francisco) 220 South Spruce Avenue
Suite 200
South San Francisco Recycle Pick-up for a Fee
Berkeley Recycling Center 669 Gilman St.
(corner of 2nd & Gilman)
Berkeley Recycle Free Drop-off No charge for up to 5 pounds, or 1 quart. Small fee/lb applies for quantities above limit.
Walgreens 5300 3rd St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 300 Montgomery St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off

Curbside Service

Special Action Note
Alameda
Residents may place household batteries (A, AA, AAA, C, D, and 9-volt) in a sealed, clear zipper-style plastic bag and put it on top of (not inside) the recyclable materials cart. Please tape terminals on batteries. (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: put in a clear, sealed bag and place on lid of recycling cart. Always tape ends of batteries to avoid contact. If your location has bins instead of carts, Property Managers can order mail-back collection containers by calling 510-613-8700.
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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. No rechargeable batteries allowed (ex. lithium ion).
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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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RE:Source is an online directory for reuse, repair and proper disposal options for the California East Bay area and Palo Alto. Our goal is to connect you with the best options for what you need to get rid of or repair. Please note that we do not accept any items directly.

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