Where do they come from? Do they drop from the sky? I am speaking about batteries.

Those of you who are personally acquainted with me know that walking is my main form of transportation. From my home on the Westside of Santa Cruz, I walk 1½ miles downtown to the bank or the post office or the Sierra Club office. I walk to nearby grocery stores, the drug store, and the book shop.

On my way every week I find batteries: Double A, Triple A, small disk batteries for hearing aids or cameras, lithium batteries, once a cell phone battery. Usually they are in the street, often damaged by having been run over by vehicle tires. I pick them up as a dog owner might with a plastic bag and every couple of weeks deposit them in the specially-marked containers in the public library or at City offices.

If left on the street, these batteries would eventually wash into the storm drains and find their way into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. I pick them up because they are bad for the Bay. Batteries are considered hazardous waste in California and are not supposed to be thrown in the trash. They contain a variety of harmful materials including lead, nickel, mercury, and lithium—all of which can contaminate soil and water, not to mention harm children, pets, and wildlife.

How do these batteries get in the street? I imagine kids dropping flashlights or toys which explode on impact leaving batteries behind. The batteries are not the kind for IPods. Is it because so many of us can’t leave home without carrying a battery-powered device or two? Can someone out there help me solve this mystery? Are they thrown out of car windows? When the user drops them, why don’t they pick them up themselves?

Readers might not be aware of what they are supposed to do with spent batteries. Each municipality has sites to drop them off for recycling and proper disposal. Contact your local waste disposal service for additional drop off places, hours of service, or if your jurisdiction is not mentioned below.

Marina: Monterey Regional Waste Management District.

Monterey: City Hall, Monterey Public Library, Whole Foods, Casanova Oak-Knoll Park Center, Hilltop Park Center, Monterey Senior Center.

Salinas: Crazy Horse Canyon Landfill.

Santa Cruz: City Hall, Public Libraries, Public Works Dept., Louden Nelson Center, Resource Recovery Facility (Dimeo).

Scotts Valley: The Battery Store.

Seaside: City Hall, Seaside Public Works.

UCSC: Battery bins on campus, check UCSC website.

Watsonville: Waste & Recycling drop off (Harvest Dr.).

Don’t throw your used batteries in the trash. Bring them to the various locations where they can be safely handled. Other options include using rechargeable batteries (these eventually wear out and must be taken to a hazardous waste site) and using devices that operate without batteries such as hand-crank flashlights and solar-powered calculators.

Mother Earth will do better without being assaulted with batteries.

—Debbie Bulger

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