Yes, Household Batteries Impact Your Carbon Footprint

AA and AAA batteries are practically invisible, but they’re all over your household, powering the electronics you depend on. That includes items such as your TV remote, gaming console, alarm clock, smoke detector, bathroom scale, computer keyboard, and many of the toys your kids love. 

When these batteries run out of power, you might be tempted to discard them in the trash. No harm, right?

Wrong. All those little household batteries add up, and they do impact your carbon footprint. In fact, Americans purchase millions of disposable and recyclable alkaline batteries every year. 

While it’s easy to focus on the need to recycle larger batteries, like the lithium-ion batteries that power cars on the road, don’t forget about those AAs in your TV remote. Recycling them can help keep dangerous chemicals out of landfills and reduce your overall carbon footprint. 

Understanding the Carbon Footprint of Your Household Batteries

Alkaline batteries may be small, but Americans tend to use a large number of them, which can amplify the impact of their carbon footprint. Each of those 9-volt, AA, AAA, C, and D batteries stuffed in your junk drawer contains materials like zinc and manganese, which have to be mined, extracted, and refined into useful battery components.

A 2020 study published in ScienceDirect found that 94% of the energy consumed from a typical household battery comes from this phase of production.

That means by the time you purchase a big pack of batteries from Home Depot, Walmart, or Amazon, most of the carbon footprint is already baked in. And what exactly is that carbon footprint? 

That same ScienceDirect study found that each AA alkaline battery you use represents a carbon footprint of 107g CO2 eq. In plain English, one AA battery creates the same amount of climate impact as releasing 107 grams (or a quarter pound) of pure carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 

That’s about the same amount of CO2 as running a standard lightbulb for 2.5 hours, using three plastic bags, or consuming three-quarters of a latte. While that might not seem like a big impact, it can add up over time when you calculate the number of household batteries you go through each year. 

A great way to lower your battery-related carbon footprint is to invest in rechargeable batteries, which create 28% less greenhouse gas than their disposable counterparts over their lifetime. Not only will you feel good about using rechargeable batteries, but your wallet will, too. One rechargeable battery can replace up to 300 single-use batteries!

Environmental Impacts of Household Batteries Beyond Carbon

The carbon footprint of your household batteries is just one aspect of their overall impact on the environment. Whenever the battery in your electronic toothbrush dies and you toss it in the trash, that battery heads to a landfill. 

Remember, typical household batteries contain zinc and magnesium. Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries also often include nickel and a metal hydride alloy. In a landfill, these heavy metals can slowly leach into the soil or groundwater, contaminating the local ecosystem.

While a single AA battery is small, we produce an estimated four billion of them worldwide every year. If a majority of these end up in landfills, that’s a significant amount of hazardous metals entering our ecosystems. The good news is that recycling your household batteries is relatively simple. It may even be the law in your state. 

How to Responsibly Recycle Your Household Batteries

If you live in California, you are required to recycle your household alkaline batteries. Many other states mandate the recycling of rechargeable batteries. Even if your state doesn’t have these laws on the books, committing to eco-friendly battery disposal is still a great way to do your part in protecting the environment. 

If you live in a medium-sized town, check to see if your local Home Depot, Lowe’s, or Staples accepts alkaline batteries for recycling (they may also take other e-waste). You can also visit your local city’s website to see if they offer eWaste recycling programs and drop-off sites. Just double-check that they accept household batteries.

Still having trouble finding a place that will take your batteries? 

Visit Earth911.com or Call2Recycle.org. Both sites feature extensive databases that enable you to locate battery and e-waste drop-off locations near you by searching for your city or zip code. 

Even Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference

As an individual, there’s only so much you can do to help protect the environment, but small actions multiplied across a growing community can have an outsized impact. If you take the time and effort to recycle your household batteries and your neighbors do the same, you can keep hundreds, thousands, and even millions of them out of landfills every year.

That, in turn, can keep soil, waterways, and your local ecosystem cleaner. You can also switch from disposable alkaline batteries to rechargeable batteries, lowering your carbon footprint with each charge. 

By becoming part of the solution, even for something as small as a battery, you can create meaningful change.