As brand new gadgets come in and old ones are moved out of homes, one 2026 ban to note aims to keep the batteries in those items out of landfills for the safety of people and property.

Under the Portable and Medium-Format Battery Stewardship Act, producers of batteries are required to fund and manage the collection, transportation and recycling of certain batteries. That means consumers have to dispose of them properly, meaning it is illegal to throw them in garbage cans or recycling bins.

One of the reasons behind the statewide law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2024 and taking effect this week is the risk of fire, which the city of Lake Forest has experienced.

According to the Lake Forest Fire Department, a lithium-ion battery was the likely culprit of a fire that started inside a garbage truck at the city’s Compost and Recycling Center in October.

Fire Chief Andy Rick said the improper disposal of batteries had caused multiple garbage truck fires in recent months, putting sanitation crews, equipment and the public at risk. No injuries were reported in that incident. The driver of the truck dumped the burning load onto the ground and moved the truck away before calling first responders.

But others have not been so lucky. Two police officers and a firefighter were injured in a garbage truck explosion in Arlington Heights in 2024.

Walter Willis, Solid Waste Agency of Lake County executive director, left, and Joe Martino, household chemical waste program and facility manager, display some of the batteries collected at the Gurnee recycling location. (Yadira Sanchez Olson/For the Lake County News-Sun)

An investigation by the Illinois Fire Department reported that while it was difficult to prove, “There’s a very high suspicion that this fire was started because of improper disposal of a lithium-ion battery in a recycling bin,” Arlington Heights Fire Chief Lance Harris said. “The amount of fire and the amount of heat that we had that day indicates that it was a lithium-ion battery, because when a lithium-ion battery goes into thermal runaway, it’s burning at around 750 degrees.”

Established collection sites, such as the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, have equipment that can prevent such fires. SWALCO’s Executive Director Walter Willis said that through the program, the agency gets drums where batteries can be stored and then transported for recycling. These drums have the technology to snuff out a fire before it goes thermal, he said.

Retailers, such as Lowe’s, Staples and The Home Depot, are also collection sites for batteries, but Willis said the big batteries, like the ones in lawn equipment, e-scooters and e-bikes, should only go to SWALCO. And batteries that have been recalled should go back to the manufacturer.

The nonprofit battery recycling program Call2Recycle offers a drop-off locator on its website that allows for a Zip code to be entered and a type of battery for a list of the nearest recycling locations.

A new Illinois law makes it illegal to dispose of batteries in garbage or recycling bins. Instead, batteries are to be taken to a recycling center. (Yadira Sanchez Olson/For the Lake County News-Sun)

Lithium-ion batteries can be found in laptops, power tools, cell phones, and bigger items like e-bikes and drones.

The AAA, AA, C, D and 9-volt batteries, and button or coin batteries, which are known as single-use batteries that can be easily removed from electronic devices, are found in things like TV remote controls, wall clocks, watches, toys and flashlights.

Additionally, lithium-ion batteries contain valuable materials that can be recycled to produce new batteries, avoiding environmental and emissions impacts associated with the mining of more materials.

Fires caused by these batteries also release chemicals into the air that are not safe, Willis said.

These battery-related fires are becoming so prevalent that the National Fire Protection Association made the “Charge into Fire Safety: Lithium-ion batteries in your home” campaign the theme for the 2025 Fire Prevention Week.

Willis said one way to safely store batteries while collecting them to be recycled is to tape the ends of each terminal or contact point with household tape. Place them in a bag and then drop them off at the recycling center during a scheduled drop-off date or at one of the many mobile recycling events held throughout the year at different locations.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/battery-disposal-guidelines/