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
Sports Basement (SF Bryant St) 1590 Bryant St San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
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.
Grand Lake Ace Hardware 1221 Grand Ave. Piedmont Recycle Free Drop-off All household-type, laptop, cell phone, and rechargeable batteries accepted. Please tape over lithium battery contacts.
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.
Walgreens 498 Castro St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 25 Point Lobos Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1333 Castro St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Recology SF Household Hazardous Waste Home Collection 501 Tunnel Ave San Francisco Recycle Free Pick-up San Francisco Residents only.
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.
Alameda County Business Hazardous Waste Program (Fremont Facility) 41149 Boyce Rd. Fremont Recycle Drop-off for a Fee Lithium batteries must have terminals insulated
Staples (SF - California St) 300 California St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Sports Basement (San Ramon) 1041 Market Place San Ramon Recycle Free Drop-off No lithium batteries
Bill's Ace Hardware 4451 Clayton Rd. Concord Recycle Free Drop-off
Oakland Public Library (Martin Luther King Jr. Branch) 6833 International Blvd Oakland Recycle Free Drop-off Tape battery terminals.
Pagano's Ace Hardware 2298 South Shore Center Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off No large quantities.
Alameda Free Library & Seed & Tool Library 1550 Oak St Alameda Recycle Free Drop-off Collection by the copier. Tape ends of batteries.
Walgreens 499 Haight St. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 2550 Ocean Ave. San Francisco Recycle Free Drop-off
Walgreens 1344 Stockton 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.

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

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