Your Old E-Bike Battery Can’t Go in the Trash — Here’s Why

A lithium-ion battery from an e-bike, power tool or portable power station can start a fire if it is crushed, punctured or overheated inside a garbage truck — and it has happened enough times across California that haulers, fire departments and lawmakers are all actively working on it right now. Here is what is actually going on, and what to do with one.

Why these batteries are different from a AA battery

Small alkaline batteries are low-risk. Mid-sized lithium-ion batteries — the kind in e-bikes, electric scooters, cordless power tools, and portable power stations used for camping or storm backups — store enough energy that physical damage can trigger thermal runaway, a chain reaction that produces intense heat, toxic gas, and fire that is genuinely difficult to put out. A garbage truck’s compactor is exactly the kind of crushing force that can trigger it, and it has caused real fires in collection trucks and material recovery facilities.

What the state is doing about it

California already charges a 1.5% fee, capped at $15, on new products sold with an embedded battery — camera equipment, power tools, even singing greeting cards — funding an existing statewide collection and recycling program. Separately, a bill moving through the legislature in Sacramento, backed by fire departments and major haulers including Recology and Republic Services, would require companies that sell mid-sized batteries to set up dedicated free take-back and recycling programs specifically for e-bike, power tool and portable power station batteries. It has not passed yet, but the direction is clear: this category of battery is getting its own disposal pathway, separate from regular trash and regular recycling.

What to actually do with one right now

• Never put it in the trash or curbside recycling bin. Not taped up, not bagged separately — it still goes through the same truck and the same compactor.
• Check for a manufacturer take-back program first. Most e-bike brands and major power tool brands are required to offer free take-back for their own batteries — worth a quick call before anything else.
• Use a household hazardous waste (HHW) collection facility. Every county in our service area runs one. Call ahead — not every HHW site accepts every battery type on every visit.
• If it is damaged, swollen, or was part of a recall, treat it as higher risk. Store it away from anything flammable and outside if possible until it is dropped off, and mention the damage when you call the HHW facility.

Where this fits into a cleanout

If a battery is part of a bigger job — an old e-bike sitting in the garage along with everything else getting cleared out — tell us when you book. We route batteries and e-waste to the correct facility separately from the rest of the load, so it never ends up compacted with general junk in the first place.