by Squigie » Mon Aug 16, 2021 11:02 am
My local dump charges $8 per battery.
But my local auto parts stores give $10 to $25 in store credit ("gift card") per battery.
Why pay, when I can get paid?
The $25 place only allows one battery per week, and I rarely patronize that business. (Due to location and selection, mostly.)
The $10 place is more convenient and allows one battery per day. (Official company policy. But they've done three in a day for me, twice before.)
Most of my junk batteries end up as oil and air filters, with an intermediate form of $10 gift cards.
I can even feel good about it for environmental reasons.
The auto parts stores ship the batteries to a recycler once they have a 3-layer-deep pallet. Having been in that network in the past, I know that it only takes the average auto parts store about 2-3 weeks to "fill" a pallet; and they typically spend a little over a week in transit before being ground into chunks at the final facility. Quick and efficient, and leaks and spills are handled very seriously.
The dump, however, stacks the batteries until they have 12 pallets, before hiring a truck to haul them to the recycler. My lady at the dump says this usually takes 9-12 months. While waiting, they corrode, leak all over, and leach into the soil - in an area where runoff goes directly into a stream about 1/2 mile from a river. ...Because, being designated as a "recyclable goods 'transfer' lot", it doesn't need the same environmental protections as the rest of the dump.