Most people are under the impression that you cannot reuse or recycle auto batteries because of the acid inside. In fact, that assumption could not be more wrong. You absolutely can reduce, reuse and recycle old car batteries, and here is how.

Reduce Your Use of Car Batteries by Reducing the Use of Cars

You can reduce the use of car batteries by reducing your use of your cars. This extends the life of the batteries beyond what you would expect because you are not using the car and its battery every day of the week. While you cannot make car batteries smaller, you can reduce your use by walking, biking, or rollerblading to work.

Reuse the Batteries

Battery retailers frequently buy up old batteries that still have a little "juice" left in them. The technicians there are able to revive nearly dead batteries and turn them into very useful live ones. It takes a little know-how, since the acid and water solution may need to be replaced or the metal plates inside the battery may need to be replaced. Once they have a battery up and running again, they can sell it as a "reconditioned" battery, which many people who are low on cash find very helpful.

Recycle the Batteries

What you may not know about car batteries is that there is a lot of material inside and out of them that can be recycled and reused. The plastic casements can be recycled by a plastics manufacturer. The metal inner casing and the metal plates that conduct the electrical charge inside the battery can be recycled by a metals plant or tossed on a scrap heap in a scrap metal yard. Finally, the lead and the acid inside (whatever is left of it) can be harvested, processed and recycled to make new batteries or for pure acid for laboratory experiments.

Recycled batteries may be recharged too. That means you could take several weakened batteries, fill them with battery fluid and/or water, hook them up to a charger, and wait for about four to six hours. Just be sure to use the batteries right away or they will become weak again if you leave them sitting idle in your garage or shed. (They can be used, in series, right away to act as a backup source of power for your electrical needs in the house, but you will need to learn how to connect everything to the batteries first.)

For more information, check out a company like Battery Tree.