How do I dispose of batteries safely?

How do you correctly dispose of alkaline double A batteries?

• I have many alkaline batteries needing to be correctly disposed of, but I don't know how to correctly dispose of them.

• Answer:

  Directly from the Duracell web site: Alkaline batteries can be safely disposed of with normal household waste. Due to concerns about mercury in the municipal solid waste stream, Duracell has voluntarily eliminated all of the added mercury from its alkaline batteries since 1993 — while maintaining the performance you demand. Our alkaline batteries are composed primarily of common metals — steel, zinc and manganese — and do not pose a health or environmental risk during normal use or disposal. It is important not to dispose of large amounts of alkaline batteries in a group. Used batteries are often not completely "dead." Grouping used batteries together can bring these "live" batteries into contact with one another, creating safety risks. Unless you community has stricter disposal regulations, just throw them in the trash as the wear out.