Car Battery Disposal (How To Dispose & Recycle?)

Ultimate Guide to Car Battery Disposal

Let’s take a look, then, at the best ways to deal with your old car battery.

How To Dispose of Car Batteries?

Firstly, and most importantly, you CANNOT just chuck your old car battery in the bin.

You see, car batteries contain some pretty dangerous and toxic chemicals that require special treatment by the authorities.

So it’s got no place with your normal household waste.

What are your best options, then?

• The local tip
• Halfords branches
• County Battery branches
• A hazardous waste disposal company

Now let’s check out where to dispose of car batteries in more detail.

1) Take it to the tip/recyling centre (maybe!)

Take the 12V vehicle battery to your local tip AKA waste and recycling centre, some of them!

We’ve bolded some of them, above, because not all recycling/disposal centres can take car batteries!

Get acquainted with recyclenow.com. They have a postcode checker, where you can enter your postcode to check if there’s a tip in your area that can accept 12V vehicle batteries. Access it here.

2) Bring it to Halfords

Take your battery to your local Halford’s branch, and they’ll take care of the recycling process for you. Here’s where to find your nearest Halford’s branch.

They partner with a registered battery waste disposal company. They recycle the batteries here in the UK, so it’s better for the environment.

Using this process up to 95% of the lead in the battery can be recycled.

3) Take the old battery to County Battery

County Battery are another car battery retailer who can help to recycle and dispose of an old car battery. They’re an approved battery exporter, and hazardous waste registered, so you’re in safe hands.

They’ll also pay you for the scrap battery (don’t expect megabucks – scrap batteries don’t have much value, sorry).

They even offer collection nationwide, but only if you have above 100kg of scrap batteries.

Otherwise, you’ll have to take it into one of their branches. Unfortunately, they’re smaller than Halfords, with only 3 branches around Nottingham. So this is only a realistic option if you live around there. Here’s where to check their store locator.

4) Use a hazardous waste disposal service

Some companies and organisations offer a hazardous waste disposal service. Car batteries come under the category of hazardous waste.

Check the UK government website to find companies who offer this service here.

Car Battery Recycling: Advice For Companies

If you’re a company, you have plenty of choices for car battery disposal.

There are many registered Battery Treatment Operators who will send a battery box to your business location for free, and then pick it up for you.

Approved Battery Treatment Operator	Website
Blancomet Scot Ltd	blancomet.co.uk
ECOBAT Resources UK Ltd	ecobat.com
Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd	electricalwaste.com
ENVA Battery Recycling Ltd	enva.com
Envirowales Ltd	envirowales.com
G&P Batteries Ltd	g-pbatt.co.uk
G.M.P. Baird Limited	gmpbaird-ltd.co.uk
Green World Trading Ltd	greenworldtrading.co.uk

For more approved battery treatment operators for industrial and automotive batteries, you can check this National Packaging Waste Database list.

How to get the car battery ready for disposal?

Here’s how to remove the battery from your vehicle.

Make sure to follow the safety tips, because car batteries contain toxic chemicals! Almost all vehicle batteries (apart from EVs) are lead-acid batteries, and the clue’s in the name – they’re made of lead, and contain sulphuric acid, as part of the electrolyte.

1.) Before you even begin the process, make sure your battery is actually dead. It could just be flat. Check its health with a car battery tester (here are the UK’s best 12V battery testers), which will give you the percentage health status, and a clear indication of whether it’s in poor health or not. If not, there may be other clear indications that its genuinely dead, such as if it’s old, and has been failing to hold on to its charge for a while now. For much more info, here’s how to tell if your car battery needs to be replaced.

2.) Wear protective clothing, especially gloves. Battery acid can severely burn your skin if it touches it. The older the car and battery, the more careful you’ll want to be. Modern batteries are built with better safety features, but you absolutely should take proper care anyway.

3.) Make sure the ignition is off, you don’t want the battery to be live while you’re removing it.

4.) Take a quick visual inspection of the battery before you touch it. If it looks damaged, and that there could be leakage, you’re better off calling a professional mechanic or breakdown service engineer to deal with it. Their safety equipment is likely to be superior, as is their knowledge of the best safety practices.

5.) Once you’re satisfied that it looks normal, disconnect the positive and negative terminals. Always remove the negative cable first, then the positive one.

6.) At this stage, once again, check the battery for leaks or damage. If it looks okay, now you can remove it. Place it in a strong bag. Make sure to keep it upright at all times. Batteries can be heavy so get some assistance for the lifting part, if needed.

7.) Transport the battery to the local facility you’ve chosen. Ensure you keep it upright at all times, and it’s important to cover the battery terminals so they can’t be short circuited by making a connection with something metal.