COLUMBIA COUNTY, That drawer of dead AAs, the old phone in the junk drawer, the drill battery that stopped holding a charge: Columbia County will take all of it, free, at the transfer station in St. Helens, and it is asking residents to stop putting batteries in the garbage because they start fires in trucks and at the facility.
The county launched the battery drop-off program in May and re-posted it this week. “This program gives residents a safe and convenient way to recycle batteries,” Solid Waste Coordinator Tatum Flowers said in the county’s announcement. The county’s page is blunter: “Never put batteries in your trash or recycling containers.”
What they take, free:
- Alkaline (AA, AAA, C, D, 9-volt)
- Lithium and lithium-ion, including power tool and laptop batteries
- Coin and button cells
- Nickel-metal hydride and nickel cadmium rechargeables
- All cellphones
- Small sealed lead-acid batteries under 25 pounds, such as lawn mower and kids’ ride-on toy batteries
For a fee: vehicle lead-acid batteries, $2.70 each.
Not accepted: electric vehicle batteries, home battery storage systems, and batteries that cannot be removed from the product, except cellphones.
Where: the scale house at the Columbia County Transfer Station, 1601 Railroad Ave., St. Helens, during regular hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday, per the county’s transfer station page. Batteries are also taken at the county’s household hazardous waste collection events.
Until you get there: the county says to store batteries upright in a non-metal container in a cool, dry place.
Questions: Flowers at 503-397-7259 or solidwaste@columbiacountyor.gov; transfer station, 503-397-9811.