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

Find more information on our Battery Fact Sheet.

Vendors

Vendor Address City Destination Disposal Method Notes
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.
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
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
Best Buy Recycling and Trade-in Program (Union City) 31350 Courthouse Dr. Union City Recycle Free Drop-off rechargeable batteries, battery backups (UPS), batteries for cellphones, laptops, and button batteries
Bill's Ace Hardware 4451 Clayton Rd. Concord Recycle Free Drop-off
Bill's Ace Hardware 3610 Pacheco Blvd. Martinez 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
Brownies Hardware 1563 Polk St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
BulbCycle 7700 Regents Road #113
Suite 547
San Diego Recycle Mail-in for a Fee
Call2Recycle Battery Drop-off Location Finder 1000 Parkwood Circle
Suite 200
Atlanta Recycle Free Drop-off, Mail-in for a Fee Accept all dry-cell single use batteries weighing up to 11 lbs, such as alkaline (AA, AAA, etc.), lithium primary. If have 500 lbs/pallet load, can request Bill of Lading. Use the locator to find drop-off locations.
Calumet 2001 Bryant St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Canyon Market 2815 Diamond St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Center Hardware 3003 3rd St San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Central Contra Costa HHW Collection Facility 4797 Imhoff Pl. Martinez Recycle Free Drop-off
Central Contra Costa Household Battery Recycling Program Recycle Free Drop-off
Charity Cultural Services Center 731 Commercial St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Cirba Solutions (Mark Steadman) Recycle Mail-in for a Fee Sells We Recycle Kits to collect and mail back batteries.
City of Alameda Maintenance Services Center 1616 Fortmann Way Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off (Tape the contacts on both ends before dropping off)
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.
Clean Earth (AERC) (Hayward) 30677 Huntwood Ave Hayward Recycle Mail-in for a Fee Mail-in recycling kit only

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.
###

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.

If you have questions or feedback about this directory, please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

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.