Over half of you recycle batteries regularly – but there’s still room to improve

By Emma Lucey 2 December 2025

Prior to National Recycling Week this year, we ran a poll on our Instagram page (@planetark) asking our followers about their battery recycling habits. It revealed positive results with over half stating they are regular battery recyclers.

It was promising to hear that 57 per cent of those surveyed said they recycle batteries regularly, though with 35 per cent saying they only recycle batteries sometimes, 3 per cent saying they haven’t recycled any yet, and 5 per cent surprised you can recycle batteries at all, there’s still room for improvement.

With a wide variety of batteries on the market and use of household batteries increasing every year, it's more important than ever to recycle them after use. Batteries should never be disposed of in your household or co-mingled recycling bin. Rechargeable and lithium-ion batteries can spark fires in collection trucks or processing facilities.

Recycling batteries responsibly keeps toxic materials out of landfill where they can contaminate the soil and groundwater. Recycling also ensures the valuable materials in batteries are used again in new products, which reduces the amount of finite natural resources used in the production of new batteries. When batteries are recycled, they are mechanically separated into their different components – including zinc, manganese concentrate, steel, paper, plastic, and brass fractions.

When we asked our followers about the regular barriers they face when recycling batteries, 59 per cent said they were storing them – which is fine when stored correctly — but 33 per cent said they didn’t know where to recycle them. If you do store batteries to drop them off in bulk, be sure tape the terminals, store them in a glass container rather than metal and keep them cool and away from children for safety.  

Batteries can be safely prepared for recycling at drop-off points by applying non-conductive tape (like sticky tape or electrical tape) over battery terminals at the ends, which helps prevent short-circuits and fire risks.

When it comes to those who don’t know where to recycle batteries, 50 per cent of respondents didn’t know you can drop them off at your local Coles supermarket. There are over 800 Coles supermarkets that now have drop-off points, and last year, 369 tonnes of batteries were returned by Coles customers using the battery recycling bins – enough to stretch from Melbourne to Adelaide when laid end to end! For batteries that may be damaged, you can also search for local hazardous material drop-offs via our directory on our batteries page.

For more information, visit our batteries page or refer to our handy factsheet, which can also be printed for the fridge at home or work.