Hate to throw those used, household batteries in the trash?
The Frick Environmental Center offers free household alkaline battery recycling and is one of the few such recycling sites in Pittsburgh.
Batteries can be dropped in the center’s blue recycling tube just inside the main entrance near the front desk.
The Frick Environmental Center, located at 2005 Beechwood Blvd., is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
The environmental center will collect and send the batteries to a recycling center courtesy of Green Mountain Energy.
You should avoid throwing away batteries with household trash as some types contain toxins such as mercury and cadmium, posing a potential threat to human health and the environment if improperly disposed of, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
At recycling centers, the batteries are sorted. Most household batteries are single-use, alkaline batteries.
Then, the batteries are broken down, separating out zinc and manganese concentrate, steel, paper, plastic, and brass fractions.
Those products then are recycled to make steel, plastics, and even new batteries, according to the Frick Environmental Center.
