The Secret of (the missing) NiMH Batteries

I’ve heard it so many times, it’s like a broken record. “Dad, could you get some AA batteries when you go to the store?” We go through the things like water. The oft-repeated request always begs the response “What happened to all of the NiMH rechargeable batteries I bought?” No one ever seems to know. So I set out to solve the secret of the missing NiMH batteries today. The idea struck me while I was standing in the checkout line, with an 8-pack of AA NiMHs …

I know I could have found a better deal on AA NiMH batteries online. But I needed them today, not next week. Twenty four bucks for eight 2400mAh NiMH AAs was stiff, but when compared to eight bucks for eight conventional AAs, it almost seemed like a bargain.

Yeah, right.

If the checkout line isn’t the worst possible place in the world to buy batteries, it’s gotta be close. After all, retail stores depend on those impulse buy displays to beef up their margins.

As I waited for the next available cashier, I began to ponder the dilemma. Where have all of our rechargeable NiMH batteries gone?

While I know that there are at least a few rolling around in the back of the kitchen drawers, I’ll bet that most of them ended up in the trash. And that’s unfortunate for two reasons … the most obvious being that it’s like throwing out money. The less obvious is that our county mandates that we put out our spent batteries with our recycling.

So I came up with a simple solution. I’m pasting labels on each and every NiMH rechargeable battery here at ranchero indebto:

NiMH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY - DO NOT DISCARD!

“Dad, what’s a broken record?”

Related: How much can you save with NiMH Rechargeable Batteries?, Computer Recycling