Seattle Announces Battery Disposal Ban

Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Seattle banned batteries from garbage and recycling bins. Seattle residents will no longer be allowed to throw batteries in garbage cans or recycling bins to prevent potential chemical fires. 

Many electronics are now manufactured with Lithium-Ion batteries and other hazardous elements, especially smartphones, tablets, laptops, earbuds, and other popular electronics used every day. Lithium-ion batteries are known to cause chemical fires when damaged, which can happen when thrown into garbage bins with other objects that can easily puncture a battery. 

Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said, “In the last two years, the Seattle Fire Department has responded to 79 fires involving lithium-ion batteries, often involving e-scooters, e-bikes, and portable electronics. This is a growing fire safety concern across the nation as consumers purchase more items with lithium-ion batteries. Fires involving batteries can start and spread quickly, so properly storing, charging, and disposing of batteries becomes key to preventing fires where injuries and property loss could occur.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell added that residents are too often confused about how to dispose of batteries, and the new Director’s Rule provided the clarification needed to keep the communities and employees safe. 

Rather than tossing out expired batteries such as small button cells, alkaline (such as AA or AAAs), and lithium-ion, residents can take them to Seattle Public Utilities, schedule a pickup for $5 with the city, or use a private battery drop-off service. 

Proper battery disposal is critical to prevent damage that can cause devastating fires. Battery fires have grown astronomically in previous years, mainly due to thermal runaways in lithium-ion batteries. For this reason, batteries of any kind should be handled by trained professionals. 

Common IT assets like computers, monitors, laptops, tablets, and smartphones can become a headache to dispose of without proper resources.ITAD enterprises such as HOBI take care of the hard part while focusing on mitigating environmental liability. 

HOBI is an R2v3, RIOS, and ISO-14001 certified IT asset management and disposition facility with more than 30 years of industry experience and locations in Dallas, Phoenix, and Batavia. HOBI prioritizes environmental safety and ensures IT assets are disposed of properly via electronics recycling. 

For more information about our ITAD services, call 817-814-2620 or contact HOBI at sales@hobi.com.