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.

Find more information on our Battery Fact Sheet.

Vendors

Vendor Address City Destination Disposal Method Notes
Papenhausen Hardware 32 West Portal Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off For safety, tape contacts on all Lithium and Lithium-ion batteries.
Cliff's Variety 479 Castro St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 825 Market St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3400 Cesar Chavez St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1301 Franklin St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Progress Hardware 724 Irving St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Island Cove Market (4th Street) 150 4th Street
Suite 1
San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Cole Hardware 70 4th St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 88 Spear St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3601 California St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Sports Basement (SF Bryant St) 1590 Bryant St San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
Walgreens 1301 Market St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Recology San Francisco Transfer Station Public Recycling and Disposal Drop Off 501 Tunnel Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off Batteries First 5 gallons per month are free. After first 5 gallons per month, $3.50/lb
Cole Hardware 956 Cole St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 965 Geneva Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3801 3rd St. Suite 550 San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 2120 Polk St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1333 Castro St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Recology SF Household Hazardous Waste Home Collection San Francisco Recycle Free Pick-up San Francisco Residents only.
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.

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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