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 Disposal Method Notes
Sports Basement (Redwood City) 202 Walnut St Redwood City Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
Alameda Free Library & Seed & Tool Library 1550 Oak St Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off
Decathlon 735 Market Street San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Fredericksen Hardware 3029 Fillmore St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
Walgreens 1301 Market St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
GreenCitizen 1831 Old Bayshore Hwy, Ste. #2 Burlingame Recycle Free Drop-off They ONLY accept UPS batteries. Non-rechargable electronic batteries and single use alkaline batteries are NOT accepted.
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
Ridwell Recycle Pick-up for a Fee Call2Recycle uses mechanical recycling techniques to recover material to create new batteries.
Walgreens 965 Geneva Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 3801 3rd St. Suite 550 San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 456 Mission St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste Program (Oakland Facility) 2100 East 7th Street Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off  Note: Swollen Li-ion batteries accepted. If it’s leaking, contact hhw@acgov.org.
Sports Basement (SF Bryant St) 1590 Bryant St San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
Alameda Municipal Power 2000 Grand St Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off No large quantities.
Lighting Resources Recyclers (EZ on the Earth) 400 N Forsythe St Franklin Recycle Mail-in for a Fee
Oakland Public Library (African American Museum & Library) 659 14th St Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
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.
Walgreens 1333 Castro St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
SMaRT Station 301 Carl Rd Sunnyvale Recycle Free Drop-off Please note that the SMaRT Station serves Mountain View and Sunnyvale residents only.
Recology SF Household Hazardous Waste Home Collection 501 Tunnel Ave San Francisco Recycle Free Pick-up San Francisco Residents only.

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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