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

What do I do with:

Near:

SEARCH

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
Oakland Public Library (Dimond Branch) 3565 Fruitvale Ave Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
Walgreens 25 Point Lobos Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Central Contra Costa Household Battery Recycling Program Recycle Free Drop-off
Best Buy Recycling and Trade-in Program (Dublin) 4820 Dublin Blvd. Dublin Recycle Free Drop-off rechargeable batteries, battery backups (UPS), batteries for cellphones, laptops, and button batteries
GreenWaste of Palo Alto 2765 Lafayette St Palo Alto Recycle Pick-up for a Fee Clean Up Day. Do not place in your recycle cart. This item can be collected curbside during your Clean Up Day.
Alameda City Hall 2263 Santa Clara Ave Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off No large quantities.
Standard Plumbing 6122 Geary Blvd. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
G Mazzei & Son Hardware 5166 3rd St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
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)
Alameda County Business Hazardous Waste Program (Fremont Facility) 41149 Boyce Rd. Fremont Recycle Drop-off for a Fee Lithium batteries must have terminals insulated
Walgreens 499 Haight St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Sports Basement (SF Bryant St) 1590 Bryant St San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
Oakland Public Library (Golden Gate Branch) 5606 San Pablo Ave Emeryville Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
Walgreens 2550 Ocean Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Central Contra Costa Household Battery Recycling Program Recycle Free Drop-off
Best Buy Recycling and Trade-in Program (Emeryville) 3700 Mandela Pkwy. Emeryville Recycle Free Drop-off rechargeable batteries, battery backups (UPS), batteries for cellphones, laptops, and button batteries
City of Palo Alto Household Hazardous Waste Station Program 2501 Embarcadero Way Palo Alto Recycle Free Drop-off Only 15 gallons or 125 pounds of hazardous waste per visit. Must be a Palo Alto resident, proof of residency is required.
Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste Program (Hayward Facility) 2091 West Winton Avenue Hayward Recycle Free Drop-off  Note: Swollen Li-ion batteries accepted. If it’s leaking, contact hhw@acgov.org.
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.

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.)
###
Albany
Put batteries in a clear plastic bag, seal it shut and place on the top of the recyclables cart.
###
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.
###
Dublin
Single Family Residents. Place used batteries on top of your recycle cart in a clear plastic bag.
###
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.
###
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.
###
Hayward (Oro Loma - L2)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
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.
###
Newark
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
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.
###
Piedmont
Place in Ziploc bag on top of the recycling cart. Also accepted at the Piedmont Fire Station for recycling.
###
Pleasanton
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
San Leandro
Bag batteries in clear bag and put on top of Recycling cart.
###
San Leandro (Oro Loma - L3)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
San Lorenzo (Oro Loma)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
Unincorporated Oro Loma (L1)
Single Family Service - Place in zip loc bag on top of recycling cart
###
Union City
Single Family & Parcelized Multifamily Dwellings: Put in clear, sealed bag next to recycling cart.
###

Questions? Comments?   We're here to help!      Get in touch!

Additional Tools

  • Item Search
  • Vendor Search
  • Information for Vendors

Grab the mobile apps for answers on the go:

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play
Brought to you by A public agency reducing waste in Alameda County since 1976.