Why Home Batteries Can't Go in Household Trash

A worn-out battery is not ordinary trash. Under US EPA guidance, lithium-ion batteries and the devices that contain them "should NOT go in household garbage or recycling bins"¹. That covers the cells inside a power station and the packs in a wall-mounted home battery.

The fire problem

A battery that no longer does its job can still hold energy. EPA says batteries "can have enough energy to injure or start fires even when used and when they appear to be discharged"². A flat-looking battery isn't an empty one.

Now think about what happens to trash. It's tipped into a truck, squeezed, and tipped out again. EPA warns that a battery in the trash or the recycling bin may be damaged or crushed in transport or in sorting equipment, creating a fire hazard¹.

A lithium-ion cell holds a flammable liquid and can become pressurized if it's damaged³. Crush one and you've given it a reason to burn. The fire usually isn't at your curb. It's at a waste plant, where one blaze can spread. One source records twelve such fires in Swiss recycling facilities in 2023³.

Lead-acid batteries are a different worry

Older backup units often use lead-acid batteries. The hazard is of another kind. EPA says a lead-acid battery may hold up to 18 pounds of lead and about one gallon of corrosive, lead-contaminated sulfuric acid². EPA's advice is not to put them in the trash or municipal recycling bins².

It's also a waste of material

Lithium-ion batteries contain cobalt, graphite and lithium, which EPA lists as critical minerals. Its blunt summary: when these batteries go in the trash, "we lose these critical resources outright"¹. Recovery only happens if the battery reaches a recycler. How recycling works covers what happens next.

What to do instead

• Keep the battery out of the garbage and the curbside recycling bin¹.
• Take it to a collection point that handles batteries, such as a household hazardous waste site². See how to find an official drop-off point.
• For a large installed battery, contact the maker or the company that installed it. EPA notes that medium and large-scale lithium-ion batteries may not be removable by the consumer¹.
• If the battery is damaged, don't wait for the next trash day. Read what to do with a damaged or swollen battery.

Check your local rules

This page describes US EPA guidance. Rules differ by state and by country, so ask your local waste authority what applies where you live. Your own product's manual also says how the maker wants the unit handled at the end of its life, and that comes first.